Morgan Tsvangirai - Political Negotiations

Political Negotiations

On 22 July 2008, Tsvangirai and Mutambara met Mugabe face-to-face and shook hands with him for the first time in over a decade for negotiations in Harare, orchestrated by Mbeki, aiming for a settlement of electoral disputes that would share power between the MDC and the ZANU-PF at the executive level.

This was followed by the beginning of clandestine negotiations between appointed emissaries from both parties in Pretoria. The media images of hands being shaken between the political rivals also set a stark contrast to the ongoing partisan violence taking place in both the rural and urban areas of Zimbabwe.

At the end of the 4th day of negotiations, South African President and mediator to Zimbabwe, Thabo Mbeki, announced in Harare that Mugabe of Zanu-PF, professor Arthur Mutambara of MDC and Tsvangirai finally signed the power-sharing agreement – a "memorandum of understanding". Mbeki stated:

An agreement has been reached on all items on the agenda ... endorsed the document tonight, and signed it. The formal signing will be done on Monday 10 am. The document will be released then. The ceremony will be attended by SADC and other African regional and continental leaders. The leaders will spend the next few days constituting the inclusive government to be announced on Monday. The leaders will work very hard to mobilise support for the people to recover. We hope the world will assist so that this political agreement succeeds.

In the signed historic power deal, Mugabe, on 11 September 2008 agreed to surrender day-to-day control of the government and the deal is also expected to result in a de facto amnesty for the military and ZANU-PF party leaders. Opposition sources said "Tsvangirai will become prime minister at the head of a council of ministers, the principal organ of government, drawn from his Movement for Democratic Change and the president's Zanu-PF party; and Mugabe will remain president and continue to chair a cabinet that will be a largely consultative body, and the real power will lie with Tsvangirai. South Africa's Business Day reported, however, that Mugabe was refusing to sign a deal which would curtail his presidential powers. The New York Times said Nelson Chamisa, a spokesman for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, announced: “This is an inclusive government. The executive power would be shared by the president, the prime minister and the cabinet. Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara have still not decided how to divide the ministries. But Jendayi E. Frazer, the American Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, said:

We don’t know what's on the table, and it's hard to rally for an agreement when no one knows the details or even the broad outlines.

On 15 September 2008, the leaders of the 14-member Southern African Development Community witnessed the signing of the power-sharing agreement, brokered by South African leader Thabo Mbeki. With symbolic handshake and warm smiles at the Rainbow Towers hotel, in Harare, Mugabe and Tsvangirai signed the deal to end the violent political crisis. As provided, Mugabe remained president, Tsvangirai became prime minister, the MDC took control of the police, Mugabe's ZANU-PF retained command of the Army, and Arthur Mutambara became deputy prime minister.

In January 2009, Tsvangirai announced that he would do as the leaders across Africa had insisted and join a coalition government as prime minister with Mugabe. On 11 February 2009 Tsvangirai was sworn in as the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe.