Tsvangirai urges Mugabe to settle outstanding issues within 30 days

Nov 8, 2009, 15:16 GMT

Harare - Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Sunday again urged President Robert Mugabe to meet the deadline he has been given by regional leaders to resolve outstanding issues that could collapse the power-sharing government they formed in February.

'You (Mugabe) have leant one lesson - we are not a junior partner (in the coalition government). We are not in there because of the generosity of Robert Mugabe,' Tsvangirai told supporters of his Movement for Democratic Change at a rally in Chitungwiza, some 30 kilometres south of Harare.

'We are the majority party in the country,' he said in what was his first public address since last week's mini regional summit to iron out differences between the two sides that gave Mugabe 30 days to resolve the issues Tsvangirai had complained about.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit came after Tsvangirai had pull out of the coalition government last month, accusing Mugabe's Zanu-PF party of being an 'unreliable and dishonest partner.'

Tsvangirai has accused Mugabe making unilaterally appointing senior government officials such as the attorney general and the central bank governor.

Tsvangirai said Mugabe was authorizing constant harassment of his MDC senior officials, including MDC treasurer Roy Bennett, and of bringing trumped up charges against them. Bennett is accused of plotting to topple Mugabe, a crime that carries the death penalty in Zimbabwe. It was Bennett's re-arrest that triggered the MDC's pull- out from the coalition government.

'SADC said these people (MDC) are justified to take the action they took,' Tsvangirai told his supporters. 'They said if you (MDC) do not go back into the government, the country will slide back into chaos.'

Tsvangirai added that South African President Jacob Zuma had 'assured us that the issues would be resolved in 15 days and that he would come to assess the implementation of the power sharing agreement at the end of the 15 days. '

'We want the issues resolved once and for all.'

Tsvangirai did not indicate what action his party would take should Mugabe fail to resolve the outstanding issues.

The fragile power -sharing deal was brokered by SADC following a hotly disputed presidential run-off which Mugabe had won. Tsvangirai had won the first round.

'Despite winning the election last year, I let the old man (Mugabe) be the president and I the prime minister just for the sake of the country.'