25 November 2008
MDC negotiators left Harare on Tuesday to attend the latest round of talks in South Africa, armed with a set of demands they said should be dealt with, before they join a unity government.Top of that agenda is an issue the negotiators want clarified by the facilitator Thabo Mbeki. The former South African Head of State is reported to have written a letter to Morgan Tsvangirai sometime last week, at which he allegedly used undiplomatic language towards the MDC leader.
The deeply offensive letter caused so much anger within the MDC top brass that lead negotiator Tendai Biti vowed last week he would not travel to South Africa for any talks as a result of Mbeki's disrespect for Tsvangirai.Biti was quoted by the weekly Financial Gazette last week saying he was not going anywhere and he would instead be in Dotito, while they (Mbeki and other negotiators) meet in South Africa.
'The truth of the matter is that we are not going to that meeting. We have stated our position and we are not going anywhere and are not meeting anyone,' Biti said in the Fingaz interview.After a flurry of diplomatic maneuvers between the South African government, Mbeki and SADC, the MDC were finally persuaded to attend the talks. The party only decided on Monday to send their team.'They grudgingly left Harare this morning. So they have demands that they are taking with them to the talks,' our source said.
The other two issues that the MDC will raise are the fraudulent alteration of the Global Political Agreement of the 15th September 2008 by ZANU PF, and the enactment of Constitutional Amendment Number 19.This last issue includes the equitable distribution of ministerial portfolios, the composition and powers of the National Security Council, the unresolved issue of the provincial governors and the appointment of Permanent Secretaries and ambassadors.
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