Mugabe Say Zimbabwe’s Unity Government Is Working
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe said the coalition government with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is working, even though the two sides criticize each other.
“Let it not be said that we’re dysfunctional,” Mugabe told reporters in the capital, Harare, today. “We started off as parties that were disparate, which fought each other and had grievances against each other and wanted to settle scores. Now as Zimbabweans, we have no option but to work together.”
The unity government was formed in February last year under an agreement brokered by the Southern African Development Community. It joined Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change with Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front party after a 2008 parliamentary election was won narrowly by the MDC. Tsvangirai pulled out of the subsequent presidential election, citing violence against his supporters.
Mugabe said Zimbabwe’s leadership would speak out against violence in any forthcoming election.
“We want to get to people that our word, our command, says no to violence,” he said. “That doesn’t mean everyone will listen to us.”
Mugabe also said the country was making progress toward designing a new constitution, though he didn’t reiterate comments he made on Dec. 17 that the country would be ready to hold elections next year.
To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Latham in Durban, South Africa at blatham@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Philip Sanders at psanders@bloomberg.net.
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