Power-sharing talks continued last week in Zimbabwe. On Friday President Robert Mugabe appeared optimistic and said it was time “for deals to be made”.
But at the end of the fourth day of talks, hosted by former South African President Thabo Mbeki, there was still no sign of a break through in the formation of a cabinet.
Elizabeth Sidiropoulos, the National Director of the South Africa Institute of International Affairs told Nightline’s Akwei Thompson that reports that came directly after Mugabe’s comment would suggest the comment itself might have been cynical.
“I think certainly from his perspective it would be good to have a deal, but certainly a deal on his terms,” she said. “And I think Morgan Tsvangirai has made it quite clear over the last couple of weeks indeed that there are certain “non-negotiables”, of course one of the most important ones was the finance ministry and also equally important, home affairs,” Sidiropoulos added.
She said “and not withstanding the rumors that have come out about possibly giving finance to the MDC, I think there’s quite a substantial amount of haggling going on and I think the MDC is sort of standing quite firm on this issue and thinking that the agreement basically of the power-sharing agreement of September has actually not been honored.”