Posted by
politic on Friday, October 24, 2008 7:50:24 AM
Some Zimbabwe government supporters say President
Robert Mugabe should form a government without the opposition,
following an opposition boycott of talks Monday in Swaziland. Tendai
Maphosa asked ordinary Zimbabweans in Harare what they think about this
latest threat to the power-sharing deal signed last month and reports
for VOA.
After failing to agree on the allocation of
Cabinet posts last week, Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party and the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change decided to refer the matter
to the Southern African Development Community.
They agreed to meet with SADC representatives
earlier this week, but that meeting never took place. MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai said he could not travel through South Africa to Swaziland
for the meeting because he does not have a passport.
Mr. Tsvangirai surrendered his passport when it ran out of pages earlier this year and it has not been returned.
But
President Robert Mugabe's government says Mr. Tsvangirai was issued an
emergency travel document that was sufficient to attend Monday's
meeting.
VOA sought the opinions of some Zimbabweans on the matter.
For
one man, it is simply a matter of respect - if the government can issue
Olympic gold medalist Kirsty Coventry a diplomatic passport then the
man he described as "our president" should not be denied an ordinary
passport.
"It is wrong, Tsvangirai is our president and they
give him an emergency passport," he said. "Kirsty Coventry has a
diplomatic passport and Tsvangirai is given a document that expires in
six months, it does not make sense."
Another man says if he
was issued with an emergency travel document Mr. Tsvangirai should have
traveled to Swaziland. But he said the prime-minister designate should
get a passport.
"He definitely deserves to have that passport,"
he said. "The talks should have been held with him present, and I think
him not having a passport was neither here nor there."
The
government claims they could not issue Mr. Tsvangirai with a passport
because they have run out of imported paper for passports. Mr. Mugabe's
spokesman George Charamba says this is due to sanctions imposed on
Zimbabwe by the West.
But this Zimbabwean man scoffed at
Charamba's claim, saying the passport office is issuing passports to
ordinary Zimbabweans daily, and he says for a high fee they can get
their passport in 24 hours.
"They have one-day passport services, they should just give him a passport. They are negotiating in bad faith," he said.
But
the government's supporters disagree. Zimbabwe war veterans'
organization leader Jabulani Sibanda has urged Mr. Mugabe to appoint a
Cabinet without the MDC.
The Herald daily newspaper, a
government mouthpiece, quotes Sibanda as saying Mr. Tsvangirai lost the
elections and efforts to accommodate him in the inclusive government
should not make it appear as if he is important. Sibanda also warned
Mr. Tsvangirai of unspecified action should he continue to "behave the
way he is behaving".