Deal or No Deal

So Mbeki has managed to cajole Mugabe, Mutambara and Tsvangirai to sign a power sharing agreement. Should this be a cause for celebration for the long suffering Zimbabwean people? Judging by Mugabe's comments at the signing ceremony, I think it's a case of let's wait and see - he could not resist yet another swipe at the usual suspects. Although Zanu-PF's George Charamba was quick to point out that Zimbabwe was not Kenya, during a press conference at the AU summit in Sharm-el Sheikh, the power sharing agreement signed by Zanu-PF, MDC-T and MDC-M is modelled along similar lines to the one Kenya's Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga signed earlier this year. It would now appear that the African election model is vote, dispute the result then sign a power sharing agreement, eventually. Zimbabwe's cabinet is set to have 31 ministers, Kenya has 42. Mugabe will retain control of the JOC, but the reality seems to be the other way round. Tsvangirai wants to control the police and is set to control the finance ministry because the international community won't give Zimbabwe the aid the country desperately needs otherwise.

However, Zimbabweans will recall what happened when Joshua Nkomo's ZAPU was subsumed by Mugabe's Zanu after an earlier power sharing agreement and the subsequent atrocities that were committed in Matabeleland. So it remains to be seen how committed Mugabe is to making this latest agreement work.

Incapacitated

Incase you are wondering why the talks between Zanu-PF, the MDC faction led by Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC faction led by Arthur Mutambara are so protracted, here's the reason. Robert Gabriel Mugabe is beholden to the JOC (veterans of Zimbabwe's war of independence and now heads of Zimbabwe's army, airforce and intelligence services) and they have instructed him not to concede executive power to Tsvangirai, despite the latter winning the majority of parliamentary seats in the March elections. In other words, the talks are Mugabe's way of stalling for time while he and the JOC devise a way for Mugabe to continue his misrule of Zimbabwe.

Mugabe has previous here because he held talks with Joshua Nkomo's ZAPU which was subsumed into Zanu-PF and then he deployed Perence Shiri (current head of the Zimbabwean airforce and JOC member) to Matabeleland where the North Korean trained 5th brigade proceeded to ethnically cleanse the Ndebele fron Matabeleland.

Damned if they do, damned if they don't

Goebbels was a master of propaganda and Zanu-PF have taken a leaf out of his book. We have seen a number of a Zanu-PF acolytes wheeled out in front of the international media to decry the MDC pull-out.

Having thought that the highest level of absurdity had already been attained, a recalibration was in order after reading this. The MDC stand accused of breaking Zimbabwean law because they pulled out of the run-off with less than 21 days to go. Now if the MDC are law breakers because they've pulled out of a pre-rigged election in order to spare their supporters further unecessary harrassment, what does make Zanu-PF who are intimidating, harrassing, injuring and killing their fellow Zimbabweans?!

The Herald is Zanu-PF's mouthpiece so maybe it was written tongue-in-cheek.