Do you believe that the Zimbabwean solution has finally arrived?

Question

I've been one of those who believed that President Mbeki was being too soft on Mugabe until I was privileged to hear Sidney Mufamadi say a lot of ground work was covered, and Mbeki would NEVER criticise Mugabe publicly. I understood Mbeki's predicament but was still sceptical until the signing of MOU yesterday. Do you think that we have arrived at the begining of the end of Zim problems? is the two weeks set aside to agree on substantive issue adequate?

Did you, in your wildest dreams, believe Mbeki that intense negotiations were going on behind closed doors. The disputed re-election of Mugabe was less than a month ago. Now less than a month, Mugabe and Tsvangirai sign an MOU. How much should we believe politicians when they say they are not talking to each other. An MOU with the type of contents signed yesterday can't be a product of one day (even a one month's) outcome given the public spat seen in Zim. Do you believe Mugabe and Tsvangirai were always honest about progress?

Answer 1

no

Answer 2

No - because Robert will Mugabe will never ever give up his country to Tsvangirai or anyone else for that matter. Even if the agreement has been signed, it may just be to get the rest of the world off his case and he will continue to destroy his country. Tsvangirai should also be careful because alot of people have trusted him and put their hopes in his leadership and if he starts with lies and dodgy meetings then his integrity may also be questioned.

Answer 3

Well I think this is all just one big conspiracy.  None of the black presidents can be trusted as all of them have broken their promises they made in order to get votes.  Besides they were isolated for so long in the aprtheid years that now that they are in charge they want to make up for lost time.  If something is lost its lost you can never get it back but in trying to get it back all the time you actually become obssessed in a way.  I think the UK or whoever needs to come here to south africa and take the people with them that want to leave the country.  Thes people would be contributing to their countries and the ones that want to stay behind can stay behind.

Answer 4

i don't think it's just a piece of paper and Mugabe will always be Mugabe the president of Zimbabwe till death

Answer 5

I dont think that it means a thing - Mugabe already made comments about the "Western world" interfering, and he is just biding more time.

Answer 6

Means bugger-all. Neither Mbeki nor Mugarbage value democracy~not that it's ever been workable in Africa. Anyhow, there's no way Mugarbage will stick to any agreements. Also, the country has been ruined beyond repair by now.

Answer 7

I believe what happened to Zimbabwe is not new to mankind. I hope Zims will work hard and built it again, and I wish them unity and all the best. And I hope now they will never take their country for granted. Germany did the same. Never say never. Zim will rise.

Answer 8

I can’t disagree with your bottom line here. I always take public spat between opposing political parties with a pinch of salt. There’s no way on this earth that at the time of Tsvangirai’s withdrawal the parties had not agreed on most of the issue. The latest development makes me believe that Tsvangirai was just strengthening his hand in negotiations by pulling out of the race. I agree that it’s also inconceivable that so soon after the one man elections everybody AGREES to form a government of national unity.  

I saw the news on Aljazeera and listened to analysis. There’s still a lot to be done but the foundation is in place. Mbeki must be happy with himself.

The other thing is that logically, a mediator can’t scold players to the dispute publicly lest they lose their role. I think Mbeki did well by not even publicly responding to Tsvangirai’s outbursts. Maybe it’s because he was aware that a breakthrough was eminent.

I’m aware that the two weeks are too tight, but again they could be using that time to just straighten points already agreed upon. I doubt they would have agreed to that time frame if they had not started doing some talking on those issues.

One lesson out of this whole thing is that the more politicians they claim to be far away from each other the close they are. The converse is that the more they claim to be together the more apart they are. Just like the ANC wants us to believe that they are united while at the same time promising to severely deal with ill-discipline in the party ranks.

Answer 9

Now that the useless Mbeki has been sidelined the EU and US will bring about a resolution which is Tsvangaraai will form a Government.Mbeki can try every trick he likes to keep Mugabe out of the ICC in the Hague but what he forgets is that he is an inconsequential little man who will do as he is told even if it requires action against him.He is already a laughing joke figure in Diplomatic circles and he will be brought to book very shortly.Watch developments

Answer 10

I have hope that this is the first step to a peaceful and mutually satisfactory settlement. I know Mbeki has been hard at work behind closed doors - which is what he meant when he said he didn't want to engage in "megaphone" diplomacy. I am not an ANC supporter but I think, in this case, if it wasn't for Mbeki, the MoU would not have been signed. Give the man his due.

Answer 11

As far as I am concerned, this is just a piece of paper.  In this case, actions are stronger than words!!  Doing and saying are always 2 different things.  Of course, we can hope that something has REEEALLY been achieved.  Who would want to deny the people of Zimbabwe hope of improvement?  And seeing is believing.  What is reported in the press is not always the truth, be it negative or positive news.  We would just have to wait and see.