Zimbabweans are hopeful that the
scheduled meeting between Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and South Africa's
President Jacob Zuma will help resolve a stalemate in the unity government.
According
to the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Tsvangirai will meet President
Zuma to brief him about what the party claims are the ZANU-PF party's violations
of the unity agreement.
The MDC blames President Robert Mugabe's party for the
tense relationship in the unity government, charges ZANU-PF denies.
Political
analyst Glen Mpani told VOA that Zimbabweans are unhappy
about the performance of the unity government six months into its formation.
"The
expectations are that the outstanding matters that have been part and parcel of
this six months inclusive government… lead to the convening of SADC (Southern
African Development Community) to try as much as possible to break the
impasse," Mpani said.
He
said the regional body has yet to address complaints of the MDC in Zimbabwe's
unity government.
"As
you are aware, there are outstanding matters that the MDC forwarded to SADC,
and they had requested SADC to convene. But apparently this has not happened.
So meeting Zuma, who is the current chairman of SADC, they'll try and push for
the convening of that meeting," he said.
Mpani
said there is pressure within Zimbabwe on members of the coalition government.
"There
is indeed real pressure. I think part of the pressure is one, a disillusioned
civil society which has not seen any significant commitment to ZANU-PF in terms
of its role in the inclusive government. The second level of pressure is coming
from the supporters of the MDC within the party where there are reports of
disgruntlement," Mpani said.
He
said Zimbabweans are hopeful that President Zuma will be more effective than
his predecessor in ending the stalemate in the coalition government.
"There
have been a lot of expectations that Zuma as the new president will take a
different approach. Considering that the alliance partners that supported him
were very critical of the governance in Zimbabwe…there is also high expectation
on him in terms of is he going to deal with the issues expeditiously, or is he
going to follow the same approach that his predecessor took in terms of
engaging with Zimbabwe?" he asked.
While in
South Africa, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is also expected to hold
discussions with potential investors to help revive Zimbabwe's faltering
economy.