SADC admit power sharing document was fraudulently altered

By Lance Guma
31 October 2008

SADC Secretary General Tomaz Salomao has finally admitted the power sharing deal signed on the 15th September was fraudulently altered before the signing ceremony and different from the one agreed to by the parties on the 11th September. The Tsvangirai MDC initially raised the concerns in an interview with Newsreel in early October, complaining that ZANU PF had doctored the agreement to alter certain clauses in the document that was to be signed a few days later. Despite Monday’s Troika meeting acknowledging this fraud, the communiqué released by Salomao after the meeting said nothing about the issue. But analysts felt it was important for the Troika to come out publicly and condemn the alteration.

The Tsvangirai MDC accused Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, Secretary General of the MDC Mutambara group Welshman Ncube, and Thabo Mbeki’s representative at the talks Mujanku Gumbi, of making the changes to the document, without Tsvangirai’s knowledge. The party claimed Chinamasa, Ncube and Gumbi changed clauses relating to - an increase to the number of non-constituent senators issued to the Mutambara faction, a clause stating that a replacement for vice prime minister cannot be a non-constituent MP and that parties would jointly consult each other on the appointment of ambassadors and other key government officials.

Salomao has now publicly admitted to the alterations in interviews with journalists and pledged that the issue would be resolved. This follows pressure from the MDC who wrote a stinging letter to the SADC headquarters highlighting their concerns. Meanwhile Mugabe’s ZANU PF party held a politburo meeting this week in which sources say the party resolved not to make any concessions on the ministries they grabbed using a government gazette issued by Mugabe. If this is true it could mean the urgent full SADC summit which was called for, after Monday’s deadlock, could again be a waste of time.

South Africa’s SABC reported on Friday that the SADC summit will now be held in Johannesburg next week.