In 1999 pundits opined that the death of Vice-President Joshua Nkomo was the ultimate test for the Unity Accord signed between President Mugabe's Zanu PF and PF Zapu in December 1987. Cynics went as far as declaring that the departure of Nkomo marked the death of the Unity Accord.
As Zimbabwe's unity government inches along in its painful marriage of convenience, one cannot but remember Joseph Conrad's phrase about chaos as a "tangle of unrelated things". For the new government seems to be a tangle of unrelated political views.
On the one hand, Zimbabwe's new 'inclusive government' is already making an impact: reopening schools, cutting food costs. On the other, Mugabe's party still maintains a grip on the central bank, the media and the judiciary. Foreign donors are conflicted.
INSIDE the Zimbabwean political amphitheatre are scenes of the tired; the old and the uninspiring.
Don’t embrace Zimbabwe’s putative new government until there is evidence of real change.
Recent events in Zimbabwe have seen the re-birth of ZAPU and its subsequent withdrawal from Zanu-PF, 20 years after the signing of the unity accord. Ordinary Zimbabweans the world over can not help but wonder whether that is a good thing or not. Just when they thought they had seen it all, they are again left speechless by events.
Zimbabwe's power-sharing deal is stalled as Robert Mugabe's wounded Zanu PF party convenes an annual conference to regroup. Morgan Tsvangirai whines about a passport and his party threatens to pull out of the power-sharing deal. On the other hand, people are dying of cholera, hunger and political abuses. The country's economy has reached beyond the earthly definition of a crisis. When, will be the time to stop fiddling while Zimbabwe is burning.
So many writers are making money writing stupid self-help books. Is there some little book, which circulates from president to president, like The Secret?
Protracted efforts by SADC and led by former president Thabo Mbeki have consistently failed to bring the crisis to a reasonable solution, despite more than 18 months of negotiations. Reasons for the failure of these negotiations are as follows:
With the situation in Zimbabwe deteriorating by the day, Zimbabweans in the diaspora and "citizens of a concerned" have been urged to "make a lasting contribution" this festive season by sending red new-year cards to Robert Mugabe asking him to quit.