For the first time in over a decade, Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai have met face-to-face. Today, the two political leaders in Zimbabwe signed a memorandum of understanding. The signing commits them to fully-fledged talks to end the crisis in that country. The agreement was signed by President Robert Mugabe and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai in Harare. Chief facilitator President Thabo Mbeki witnessed the signing. Many had thought they would never see the day these two leaders would shake each others hand. If only if it were a shaking to end the crisis in Zimbabwe. But this is a start and hopefully something positive will come out of it.

Now the two parties will be locked in intensive talks for two weeks. After these two weeks, something has to be agreed upon. It has also been agreed that some aspects of the Zimbabwe constitution are going to be amended as part of this agreement between the two parties.

It is about time that something positive happens in Zimbabwe. Many are hoping that this first positive step will not turn out to be a waste of time, with some suggesting that Mugabe is going to play ‘hard ball’ and not agree to what is put on the table. All we can do is wait and see what happens in the next two weeks.