Zimbabwe PM to swear in his ministers

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 08:58:18 GMT | PressTV

Tsvangirai took office on Wednesday (February 11)

Zimbabwe's new prime minister is preparing to swear in his cabinet ministers, to act in the unity government with President Robert Mugabe.

Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai's premiership, effective since Wednesday, comes a at a time when the country is struggling with a deadly cholera epidemic, ailing health system, and an economy buried by a diabolical hyperinflation.

Mugabe has yet to name 15 ministers, to work with Tsvangirai's 14 cabinet ministers.

Although the president has kept key ministries of defense, justice and foreign affairs reserved for his ZANU-PF party, a co-minister of home affairs assigned by the new premier will be tasked to jointly oversee a portfolio that controls the police with a Mugabe-appointed minister.

Disputes over the results of last year's election in March ended with a power-sharing deal penned in September, but the agreement froze over the allocation of ministries.

After endless rounds of talks, mediated by South Africa's former president Thabo Mbeki, the two sides finally agreed in September to share power.

Tsvangirai has chosen Tendai Biti, the lead negotiator for Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in talks over the power-sharing deal, to fill the challenging post of finance minister.

Senior MDC lawmaker Giles Mutseyekwa, a top air force official arrested three years ago in a discredited plot to assassinate Mugabe, to oversees the police.

The premier has also named party spokesman Nelson Chamisa as minister for information and technology, and a white farmer and former lawmaker, Roy Bennett, as the deputy minister for agriculture.

However, the extent of cooperation between the two sides has given rise to new concerns, when security forces chiefs snubbed the inauguration of Tsvangirai as the new Prime Minister.

The country's police, army, prisons and spy agency chiefs were absent at Tsvangirai swearing-in ceremony on Wednesday, a Press TV correspondent reported on Friday.

Zimbabwe army general, Constantine Chiwenga and commissioner of police Augustine Chihuri announced during last years March 29 general elections that they were not going to "salute the MDC leader even if he wins the election because he is a puppet of the United States and Britain.”

Tsvangirai sworn in as Zimbabwe premier

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:18:59 GMT | PressTV

Tsvangirai was swarn in earlier today.

Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has been sworn in as prime minister, joining President Robert Mugabe in a unity government.

Tsvangirai took office at 11:00 am local time (0900 GMT) on Wednesday and is to begin work with his arch-rival Mugabe to cap nearly a year of political turmoil, which has plunged Zimbabweans ever deeper into crippling economic and humanitarian crises.

Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), was offered the post of a prime minister following his disputed defeat against Mugabe in the March 2008 presidential elections.

After endless rounds of talks, mediated by South Africa's former president Thabo Mbeki, the two sides finally agreed in September to share power.

However, mistrusts between the two arch-rivals continued as they sparred over who should control key ministries such as finance, information and home affairs.

Concerns were finally addressed when Zimbabwe's parliament approved a law that places Mugabe and Tsvangirai on a National Security Council that will allow all parties control of the security forces.

The cabinet is nearly equally divided between Tsvangirai's MDC and Mugabe's ZANU-PF party.

Also on Tuesday, Tsvangirai named his party's top aide, Tendai Biti, as his finance minister.

Biti had previously been accused of treason over an alleged coup plot to overthrow the government. The charges against him were dropped last week.

The cabinet for the new coalition government will be sworn in on Friday.The new premier will face difficult challenges as the country suffers from hyper-inflation, unemployment of above 90 percent, food shortages and a cholera epidemic that has killed nearly 3,500 people

'Mugabe assassination plotter' arrested

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 15:56:36 GMT | PressTV

File picture of Roy Bennett

A Zimbabwean ministerial nominee, known for his alleged plot to kill President Robert Mugabe has been captured in the capital, Harare.

Former lawmaker Roy Bennett, who in 2006 took asylum in South Africa when he was accused of plotting to assassinate the leader, was arrested by the police on Friday.

Bennett returned the country on January 30 to take the post of deputy agriculture minister after being nominated by Premier Morgan Tsvangirai.

The white politician started confronting the ruling system when he was stripped of his farm as part of a land reform eight years ago.

"We understand that they are taking him to Marondera, where there is notorious torture and interrogation base," said Tsvangirai's party the Movement for Democratic Change, AFP reported.

Some describe the accusations and treatment he has received from the Mugabe government as unfair.

"I am scared because I don't know what faces me on the other side,” said Bennett who currently serves as the MDC treasurer general after his arrival.

Tsvangirai and Mugabe's perpetual political row saw many opposition figures including the premier himself repeatedly arrested. However, the two have lately agreed to form a unity government.

Each leader has been given almost half the say in the make-up of the unity cabinet but Mugabe is yet to name his ministers.

Muagbe Party Endorses New Zimbabwe Timeline

29/01/2009 | Al Manar

President Robert Mugabe's party has endorsed plans put forward by southern African leaders for a unity government to be installed in Zimbabwe by mid-February, state media reported Thursday.

The ZANU-PF politburo met Wednesday in Harare to discuss the plan set out this week by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) following marathon talks at a summit in Pretoria. "ZANU-PF is fully behind this resolution and the politburo has endorsed it," party spokesman Nathan Shamuyarira said in the government mouthpiece Herald newspaper after the meeting.

"President Mugabe is now expected to start rolling out the process to implement the agreement according to recommendations of the regional bloc."

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has yet to endorse the deal -- under which he would become prime minister -- warning that it could be derailed by disputes over key ministries, particularly the home affairs post. His Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is set to meet Friday to decide whether to accept the deal and form a unity government with Mugabe by February 13.

He has told South African media that negotiators would meet Thursday in Harare to try to settle their remaining differences. March's first round presidential election, in which Tsvangirai placed first but did not win an outright majority, was followed by a brutal wave of political violence.

Tsvangirai pulled out of the run-off, citing violence against his supporters, leaving Mugabe to declare a one-sided victory in June. Since then Zimbabwe has plunged deeper into crisis amid massive unemployment, with half the population dependent on food aid.

The nation's economy has crumbled under stunning hyperinflation, leaving basic infrastructure like hospitals and sanitation in shambles as a cholera epidemic sweeps the country, killing more than 3,000 people.

Mugabe and Tsvangirai signed a unity accord in September, but have remained deadlocked over control of the key home affairs ministry, changes to the constitution and MDC allegations that its members have been abducted.