ZIMBABWE — MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, the country's Prime Minister-designate Wednesday afternoon, postponed a last minute press conference where he intended to expose Zanu (PF) and its leader's insincerity in power sharing talks.

 

Journalists had gathered at Tsvangirai's Strathaven home in Harare for a press conference which had to be postponed after it emerged the MDC negotiators had been called to a meeting by Zanu (PF) negotiators over the impasse on the sharing of cabinet ministries.

 

 

However, ZimDaily can reveal the purpose of the press conference was to give Tsvangirai's position on the deadlock, and a draft copy of his speech shows he intended to break his silence over the long-running impasse.

 

 

 

 

MDC spokesman, Nelson Chamisa advised journalists, representing local and foreign media houses, that the party's negotiators, its secretary general Tendai Biti and deputy treasurer general Elton Mangoma had been requested to attend a meeting with negotiators from Zanu (PF) and the smaller MDC faction led by Arthur Mutambara.

Excerpts from Tsvangirai's speech indicate he had intended to break his silence.

 

"The deadlock has worsened the suffering of Zimbabweans and we appeal to Zanu (PF) to put the interests of the country before everything else.

 

Our counterparts have been insincere and not willing to fairly share ministries, which is against the spirit of the power-sharing agreement, read part of the speech.'

"We remain committed to the agreement and dialogue in order to solve the impasse affecting the country and shall be willing to engage Zanu (PF) when they wish to negotiate with us in good faith".

In a brief interview with ZimDaily Tsvangirai stated that the intention of his press conference was not to announce a pull out of the agreement but to 'present the position and reiterate our commitment to dialogue towards coming up with a holistic way of solving the country's problems'.

Tsvangirai has come under immense pressure to pull out of the agreement due to what his party describe as 'intransigence' by Mugabe and his party. We have it on good authority that the MDC leadership has been meeting trying to consider the option of pulling out of the agreement.

Efforts to obtain a comments from the hastily-arranged meeting of the negotiators, which was reportedly still in progress by goint to print were futile.

 

The negotiators met Tuesday and reportedly exchanged harsh remarks, underlining the deepening impasse over the sharing of ministries threatening to throw into jeopardy the power-sharing deal signed on September 15.

 

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