Mujuru tears into Tsvangirai

PROSPECTS of an opposition coalition against President Robert Mugabe continue to hit turbulence, with National People's Party (NPP) leader, Joice Mujuru yesterday distancing herself from claims by MDC-T leader, Morgan Tsvangirai that a pact would be in place by month-end.

The former Vice-President, who signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Tsvangirai in April this year, has been looking elsewhere for electoral pacts, saying the deadline set by Tsvangirai was unrealistic.

"I think the deadline was an issue that they gave themselves because they did not want to go about it blindly," Mujuru said yesterday after signing an MoU with Democratic Assembly for Restoration and Empowerment (Dare) president, Gilbert Dzikiti.

"But what I see with my peers is that the things that we need to get to a point where people will be satisfied that everything is in good order; July 31, would it be a practical date, is it feasible to meet our needs?

"It is not about that date, no, but we are saying the ingredients that will make a coalition possible should be in place. We are well aware of the need to do it timeously."

Mujuru's utterances which sharply contrasted Tsvangirai's, came soon after MDC-T secretary-general, Douglas Mwonzora said his party was ready to go it alone, in claims that suggest matters were getting to a head for the formation of the much-touted coalition to break Mugabe's 37-year hegemony.

Mujuru said the two political parties - NPP and Dare - were coming together from different ideologies and could not be expected to converge in just a few weeks.

"We were facing the other direction and they were facing another direction and, for us to converge, we need time," she said.

Mujuru said there was need for a paradigm shift on politics of ownership and personalities and allow convergence of ideas, in what others could conclude was an attack on Tsvangirai.

"Others are so full of themselves, they are always saying they are the centre of everything, they are forgetting that we have a history of people who split from their parties and these are the same people now seating on the coalition table," she said.

"We don't want to be sucked into those battles of the past, as we try to settle for this grand coalition."

In the clearest sign that coalition talks could stall over jostling for positions, Mujuru dismissed attempts to try and force the endorsement of Tsvangirai as the coalition leader.

"Look at the people who spoke over the weekend even in the MDC-T, what percentage of the people do they represent? Are they the end-all of these talks?

"To me, it is just a fruit that is ripe on one side, while the other is still raw," she said.

MDC-T refused to comment on the matter, saying they will not talk about coalitions in the media.

"Our trajectory on coalitions has always been made abundantly clear," party spokesperson, Obert Gutu said.

"We will never, ever negotiate and/or discuss coalition issues in the media or in the public domain.

"There is something that is called quiet diplomacy, believe you me, when you are cutting coalition deals, quiet diplomacy is more effective than megaphoning.

"President Morgan Tsvangirai is personally handling all our coalition deliberations and, to date, we are perfectly happy with the progress that has been made."

Mujuru's MoU with Dare becomes her second outside her pact with Tsvangirai, after signing another with Zimbabwe Union of Democrats (Zunde) leader, Farai Mbira last week on the day she was supposed to sign another with People's Democratic Party leader, Tendai Biti.

The former Finance minister snubbed the meeting, citing the need to iron out sticking issues first.