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Internal politics foil Zim negotiations
Mail & Guardian (SA)
November 03, 2007

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=323970&area=/insight/insight__africa/

Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu PF party and the opposition MDC were the "closest they have been" to reaching an agreement over key sections of a new constitution this week, but rowed over Western sanctions and presidential term limits. Officials on both sides involved in the talks, mediated by President Thabo Mbeki, report that they have agreed to a set of reforms, further to electoral changes agreed in September, which would form the basis for a new constitution by next year. "This is the closest we have ever been since the talks began [in April]," one senior Zimbabwe government official said. "The talks have in fact gone on a lot smoother and faster than initially envisaged. But there is some work to be done yet." Mbeki has been eager to help the two sides stitch up some sort of deal by the end of this month, allowing both parties to go into elections next March with no grievances. There has been controversy over charges by the MDC that Zanu PF is on a fresh campaign of violence against opposition activists. Elements within the MDC are using the charges to press for a boycott of polls, but President Robert Mugabe has called the threats "amateurish". But it now appears the parties could be close to some agreement on the key issues of security and media laws. It is understood that a proposal is being discussed to soften the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (Aippa) and the Broadcasting Services Act, laws which media activists and the opposition say severely restrict civil liberties. Aippa places harsh restrictions on the media, including severe prison sentences for journalists, while strict broadcasting laws have maintained a state monopoly over the airwaves for 27 years.

However, an outright deal may yet be held back by sharp differences over MDC proposals to limit the president to two five-year terms. Zimbabwe's current constitution places no restrictions on the number of terms a leader can serve. But even as representatives of the two sides were inching towards a deal in South Africa, it was the internal events in their respective parties back home that grabbed the headlines. While Mugabe celebrated victory over his internal rivals and consolidated his hold on Zanu PF, Tsvangirai was swamped by renewed conflict in the MDC and was battling to secure his position. Mugabe has now managed to ensure that he will not have to stand for re-election at an extraordinary Zanu PF congress, originally called to choose a fresh party leader ahead of elections next March. But by following a twin strategy of sending his supporters on street marches while, behind closed doors, arm-twisting his senior officials to approve an agenda for the Zanu PF congress that does not include election of a new president, Mugabe is now secure in power. Instead, it is his deputy and leader of a rival faction, Joice Mujuru, who suddenly finds her own future insecure. Mugabe last week pressed his senior politburo into announcing that there was no requirement for him to seek a fresh mandate as Zanu PF leader, as he was elected at the last congress in 2004. Although Mujuru was also elected then, her post will be contested. But just as Mugabe entrenched his position, Tsvangirai's leadership was shaken after he sacked the popular head of his party's women's league, overruling a recommendation from his senior executive backing her. Her sacking has spawned violent clashes among supporters, a throwback to clashes two years ago that led the MDC to split into two factions over its strategy on elections. Supporters fear a further split of the Tsvangirai faction.

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