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not feature in several recent surveys that have pointed to a Zanu-PF victory in the harmonised elections with analysts contending the next Parliament is likely to feature Zanu-PF and the MDC-T minus the MDC.
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Eyebrows were raised after Prof Ncube had a clandestine meeting with the team on Tuesday after they had convened a meeting with Jomic co-chairs in the capital the same day.
Zanu-PF is the current Jomic chair and it confirmed yesterday that its member Cde Nicholas Goche as well as Mrs Priscilla Misihairabwi Mushonga (MDC) and Mr Elton Mangoma (MDC -T) met the facilitation team.
Details of the meetings were, however, not immediately made available. However, the backroom facilitation team’s private meeting with Prof Ncube, raised eyebrows with insiders saying the MDC leader was trying to capitalise on his private family relations with President Zuma to push for his political agenda.
The facilitation team spokesperson Mr Lindiwe Zulu, confirmed the private meeting with Prof Ncube’s MDC, but declined to give more detail.
“We came here (Harare) to meet the Jomic co-chairs and then the other party (MDC led by Prof Ncube) requested for a bilateral meeting with us,” she said.
Quizzed on what bilateral issues were discussed, Mrs Zulu said; “We are not talking about all those things . . . we are not yet in a position to divulge what we were talking about.”
However, Prof Ncube defended his meeting with the facilitation team, adding it was his political party’s right to do so.
“It is foolish for someone to raise such matters . . . We have every right to push for our agenda with the facilitation team . . . it’s our right to meet the facilitation team. We cannot all of a sudden, not have that right. In fact, we had written to President Zuma raising our complaints (against other principals in the Government),” he said.
Prof Ncube said that there was nothing wrong with the facilitation team meeting him because following the Jomic meeting on Tuesday, the team requested for a meeting with the three principles.
“The facilitation team requested for a meeting with the three principals and it was agreed that those meetings be held. (President) Mugabe said he would not be available for a long time, while (Prime Minister Morgan) Tsvangirai said he was busy. I was the only person available and they said they would meet us and would not wait for those who were busy,” he said.
Prof Ncube did not disclose the nature of his grievances with President Mugabe and PM Tsvangirai, but sources say he was not happy as he claimed he was always being sidelined by his colleagues.
PM Tsvangirai’s spokesperson Mr Luke Tamborinyoka yesterday dismissed Prof Ncube’s claims that the facilitation team requested to meet his boss.
“The PM never got the information that the facilitation team wanted to meet him. He knows they had a meeting with Jomic officials only,” he said.
Although Zanu-PF negotiators Comrades Chinamasa, Goche and Presidential spokesperson Mr George Charamba could not be reached for a comment yesterday, sources also said no such request for a meeting was made.
Political analyst and Tsholotsho North House of Assembly member Professor Jonathan Moyo yesterday said Zimbabweans should be forgiven for speculating on Prof Ncube’s intensions of convening a meeting outside Jomic.
“The facilitation team had a meeting with Jomic members Cde Goche, (Mrs) Misihairabwi Mushonga and (Mr) Mangoma on Tuesday. However, (Prof Ncube) went on to have a meeting with the facilitation team.
“Yes, I agree with those people who are saying he is trying to use the facilitation team to influence the poll dates in his favour. He is trying to abuse his family relationship with President Zuma.
“The elections in Zimbabwe are determined by the law and not political negotiations. When Parliament is dissolved, it does not require political negotiations because there will be nothing to negotiate. He wants the elections by October so he is trying to sell that idea to the facilitation team,” he said.
Prof Moyo questioned why Prof Ncube wanted to have a meeting with the facilitation team behind other principals’ backs.
“While the people can meet and talk about what they want, it raises speculation when he meets behind everyone else’s backs. It raises eyebrows and brings to the fore his intensions and the role of the facilitation team. Why is he operating at the level of the negotiators, while he claims to be a principal? Zimbabweans by the end of the day are entitled to think the facilitation team is favouring him,” he said.
It is alleged that this is the reason why President Zuma has been trying to accommodate Prof Ncube at summits, while the GPA clearly states that Professor Arthur Mutambara represent the MDC in Government.
The facilitation team has been at loggerheads with other members of the inclusive Government after delving into matters that have nothing to do with their mandate.
They are supposed to be invited by the leaders when there is an impasse, but indications are that they are always in the country without invitation.
Mrs Zulu, who is also President Zuma’s international relations advisor recently told the South African media that the South African president would not allow an election in Zimbabwe before the security sector was reformed.
“We should have security sector re-alignment, let me make it clear, this is not a creation of externals.
“It is part of the (power sharing) Global Political Agreement and it must be implemented before elections are held,” Mrs Zulu told South Africa’s E-news television channel.
However, Defence Minister Emerson Mnangagwa has reiterated on different platforms that the security sector was not part of GPA issues.
Online Reporter