If Tsvangirai and Mugabe want to pass the amendment they can do it. The two have the two-thirds majority!
MUTAMBARA:You make my point precisely. Any functional arrangement has to include both MDC-T and Zanu PF. Tsvangirai has to be party of any arrangement that produces the two-thirds majority and that is why we are spending our time talking to our colleagues in MDC-T and urging them to compromise and put Zimbabwe first.
Any brazen behaviour on the part of Mugabe will be totally unproductive and will drive the country into further chaos. Mugabe should reach out to Tsvangirai. Tsvangirai must be strategic and clearly take cognizance of the limited options that he has.
One theory that has been advanced by misguided and un-intelligent Western analysts and governments is that "just stay out of this government and give them six months, the regime will collapse. Mugabe will be brought to his knees by the economy and then MDC-T can walk into power," the thoughtless theory proceeds.
There is no regime in Africa that has collapsed because of economic problems alone. No one will walk into State House without firing a shot. The economic collapse would have to be combined with an armed struggle or mass demonstrations to drive Mugabe out of power.
Now, how do you do any of these complementary activities without any support among the 15 Sadc countries and their organisations? I have read remarks from President Khama, before the Sadc summit, where he was proffering an internationally supervised election as a solution to our crisis.
Under what law do you call for a fresh presidential election? Who is going to call the election? Who is going to force Mugabe to bring international supervisors to monitor our election?
If we are to have an election today, it will be under the June 27 conditions. More importantly, the most likely elections will be harmonised elections and these will be conducted under brutal and unjust conditions of June 27, that is, no international supervision, no freeness, no fairness, and more significantly under the current dysfunctional constitution. It doesn't take too much imagination to guess who will win those elections.
Pragmatism and flexibility demands that we go into this government and prepare our people for an election that we can win.
The armed struggle issue to gain power?
MUTAMBARA:We are not recommending it; neither do we think it is desirable at this point in time, given the history of our country and the nature of our disputes. We are saying even if you were to engage in an armed struggle, how do you do it without a regional base? You can't wage your struggle or combat from Washington and London.
In 1979 when Mugabe and Nkomo were at Lancaster House and they didn't like the agreement, they pulled out and decided to go back to fighting. It was Nyerere, Kaunda, Machel who told them to go and settle despite the fact that the agreement was an unacceptable compromise to the two Zimbabwean leaders. Mugabe and Nkomo did not agree with the Frontline States leaders, but they respected their advice and complied. What is so special about Tsvangirai today?
It seems there is a dispute about a dispute here. Tsvangirai says there are 10 outstanding ministries and Sadc says one -- Home Affairs. Which is the correct position from your understanding?
MUTAMBARA: As political leaders in Zimbabwe we are victims of a serious mischaracterisation of the importance of ministries. Every ministry is important.
Our economic and social sectors have collapsed and this is where the focus should be. Consequently, we do not agree with what has been bandied around as the key ministries. We agree that there must be equity and fairness.
To fight over ministries is a misguided exercise because we are seeking to construct one inclusive government. There will be collective responsibility in that cabinet, and that coalition arrangement must be driven by mutual respect and trust. There will be no such thing as a Zanu PF minister or an MDC minister. No minister will take instructions from Zanu PF or MDC headquarters.
In terms of allocation of ministries, we went through several discussions as the three principals. We also had several meetings in the presence of the facilitator. With all due respect to our colleagues in the MDC-T, one of their major problems is overstating their case and misrepresenting facts.
We cannot say none of the ministry allocations were agreed. We can raise our disquiet about the allocations, but we must agree that by the time we went to Sadc, the main stumbling block was Home Affairs. And yes it was proper that Sadc had to deal with that ministry only and none of the other ministries. We as a party fought hard for the MDC-T to get the Ministry of Finance, and they got it. The struggle was now on the Home Affairs ministry, and we lost it at Sadc.