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Strategies & Market Trends : Africa and its Issues- Why Have We Ignored Africa? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (1019)	2/25/2009 10:33:49 AM
From: Stephen O	Respond to of 1267

Zimbabwe’s Tsvangirai Rejects Mugabe’s Appointments 2009-02-25 13:46:10.666 GMT By Brian Latham Feb. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai rejected President Robert Mugabe’s appointment of permanent secretaries and said the continued roles for central bank governor Gideon Gono and Attorney General Johannes Tomana must be “resolved immediately.” Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change party has quarreled with both men, blaming Gono for Zimbabwe’s decade-long economic crisis and Tomana for arresting MDC officials. “The announcement of permanent secretaries has no force of law and is therefore null and void,” Tsvangirai said in an e- mailed statement today. The state-controlled Herald newspaper said Mugabe appointed the permanent secretaries yesterday, citing Misheck Sibanda, chief secretary to the president and parliament. The dispute over Mugabe’s appointments threatens the stability of a coalition government between his Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front and Tsvangirai’s MDC. The two rivals formed the joint administration after talks brokered by the 15-member Southern African Development Community. “As long as these matters remain unresolved, it will be impossible for the transitional government to move forward with the reforms that this country so desperately needs,” Tsvangirai said. Finance Minister Tendai Biti declined to comment in Cape Town. The MDC maintains the arrangement is a “transitional government” that will rewrite Zimbabwe’s constitution and hold new elections in the southern African nation. Parliamentary Poll Tsvangirai’s MDC narrowly won parliamentary elections last March before pulling out of a rerun presidential ballot, citing violence against its members. Mugabe stood alone in a June election that wasn’t recognized by regional observers or the African Union. Tvsangirai also called for an immediate end to a fresh round of farm invasions and a return to “the rule of law.” At least 77 white-owned commercial farms have been invaded by Mugabe supporters over the past two weeks and other landowners are being threatened, agriculture industry organizations said yesterday. Zimbabwe’s land invasions began in 2000 after Mugabe accused white farmers of backing Tsvangirai’s then newly formed MDC. The takeovers sparked a collapse in agricultural production that nine years later has left 6.9 million Zimbabweans, about half of the population. “Most significantly, the rule of law continues to be flouted by some sectors of the community and this must stop immediately,” Tsvangirai said. Zimbabwe’s home affairs ministry, which supervises the police, is headed by co-ministers. Giles Mutsekwa represents the MDC while Kembo Mohadi represents Mugabe’s ZANU-PF.