JOHANNESBURG — The spokesman for President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe dismissed the decision made by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s party to boycott cabinet meetings as “a non-event” and declared that the cabinet would meet Tuesday as scheduled, the state-owned Sunday Mail newspaper reported.
The newspaper further quoted the spokesman, George Charamba, as saying the cabinet would make binding decisions, in what appeared to be a further indication of the rift between Mr. Mugabe and Mr. Tsvangirai.
As officials in Mr. Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change countered that Mr. Mugabe and his party, ZANU-PF, could not unilaterally impose their will, they also asked regional leaders to help resolve a set of bitter disputes that threaten to bring down the power-sharing government.
Tomas A. Salamao, executive secretary of the Southern African Development Community, a 15-nation bloc, confirmed that Mr. Tsvangirai would meet Tuesday with the president of Mozambique, Armando Guebuza, representing the regional grouping.
In recent months, the bloc has declined to get involved in the festering issues that have plagued the unlikely partnership of Mr. Mugabe, who has ruled the country since 1980, and Mr. Tsvangirai, a former union leader who led the political opposition to Mr. Mugabe for a decade.
The Movement for Democratic Change’s decision to stop dealing with ZANU-PF was triggered by the state’s jailing of the party’s treasurer and deputy agriculture minister-designate, Roy Bennett, but was motivated by a broader contention that ZANU-PF has been acting in bad faith.
Mr. Tsvangirai’s supporters say Mr. Mugabe’s party has blocked progress in ensuring a free press and drawing up a new constitution, used its control of the criminal justice system to selectively prosecute rivals and not allowed the appointment of senior officials from Mr. Tsvangirai’s party to various posts.
Mr. Bennett was jailed Wednesday but was released on bail on Friday. His trial, which had been scheduled to start Monday, was postponed to give his lawyers time to prepare.
* NY Times
