ZIMBABWE'S PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe told state media yesterday that today's powersharing talks with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai are make or break, writes Bill Corcoranin Johannesburg.
The political rivals are meeting in Harare for talks mediated by South African president Kgalema Motlanthe, who is trying to salvage a powersharing deal signed last September which has stalled over the allocation of key ministries in the unity government.
Mr Tsvangirai has refused to join the proposed unity government because he insists Mr Mugabe wants to retain control of key ministries, including defence and home affairs.
In yesterday's Sunday Mailnewspaper Mr Mugabe said: "This is the occasion when it's either they accept or it's a break. We have gone past negotiations and whatever concessions were there to be made have already been made." In recent weeks Mr Mugabe indicated he was running out of patience with Mr Tsvangirai, saying he would form a new government by the end of February.
However, last week it was revealed the rival leaders had agreed to meet again to try and overcome their differences.
Mr Tsvangirai returned to Harare from Botswana on Saturday ahead of the meeting, after spending the last two months in self-imposed exile in the neighbouring country because he believes his safety cannot be guaranteed in Zimbabwe.
Mr Mugabe explained in the newspaper that Mr Tsvangirai was obliged to follow the Southern African Development Community (SADC) ruling made last November, which stated a unity government should be formed immediately and the powerful home affairs ministry shared between the two groups.
“If they have any issues they deem outstanding, they can raise them after they come into the inclusive government. This is a meeting which is taking place against a decision of SADC which we already have,” he said.
The political stand-off has increased the misery of ordinary Zimbabweans, as there has been no government to run the country on a day-to-day basis. Over the last three months more than 2,000 Zimbabweans have died from the treatable disease cholera because the healthcare system has collapsed.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong police have confirmed Mr Mugabe' wife, Grace, was being investigated for allegedly assaulting a Sunday Times(UK) photographer outside her hotel in the Chinese city last Thursday morning.