Mugabe accuses Tsvangirai of hypocrisy

Sun Nov 1, 2009

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe casts doubt over future collaborations with his coalition partners due to the 'dishonesty' of his rivals.

"We must no longer trust those who pretend to be in the inclusive government and have jumped in and out of it," said the Zimbabwean President, accusing longtime rival, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party of deception over their decision to suspend cooperation with Mugabe's ZANU-PF party.

"They can never be true and genuine partners and they have proved to be dishonest," the south African country's state media quoted him as saying on Saturday.

The 85-year-old president accused the premier of hypocrisy and pledged to continue his cabinet's work, stating, "Cabinet is not a party affair. That kind of hypocrisy should be seen as it is."

"What kind of sincerity is that? We go into government, form policies, hold investment conferences, (but) we have a part of the government striking against themselves."

Mugabe's denunciation of the prime minister comes in the aftermath of a mid-October declaration by Tsvangirai in which the premier suspended cooperation with Mugabe's coalition administration, brokered in February, in protest to the detention of his supporters and the trust issues between ZANU-PF and the MDC.

The latest development threatens to destabilize the already-impoverished country despite international mediation efforts by a troika of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) which is in Harare in a bid to break the impasse.

However, the intermediary work of SADC has yielded no fruit as Tsvangirai ruled out reaching a consensus with ZANU-PF.

"The Troika does not solve anything. Its mandate is to gather information and make recommendations," noted the Zimbabwean premier.

"We have to find a solution to the crisis so we can get the inclusive government working again," Tsvangirai added.

A breakup of the coalition government would jeopardize the fate of a much-anticipated constitutional adjustment proposal by the opposition for fresh regional and national elections.

Zimbabwe's opposition MDC eyes greater leverage in the coalition government headed by Mugabe.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/110147.html.