Reports this evening suggest that talks between the two Zimbabwe political parties have reached a ‘deadlock’. ZANU PF and the MDC have been in talks since last week Thursday with the aim of trying to reach an agreement about the governance of Zimbabwe. The two parties were meeting in Pretoria and the talks were meant to go on for two weeks. But now after only 5 days, the two parties have stopped talking. These are still unconfirmed reports as there has been a media blackout with regards to what is actually going on with these talks. But it does not surprise me if indeed it is true that talks have broken down.

It was always going to be a difficult task to get these two parties to agree to anything. Just the sheer fact that they agreed to meet was a surprise in itself. According to a report on BBC, the reseason the talks seem to have reached a deadlock is because ZANU PF have proposed to appoint MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai as a ‘third vice-president’ of Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe currently has two vice-presidents who are both strong ZANU PF figures but hardly have a say in what happens in the country. Having Tsvangirai as a third vice-president would be “insulting” according to the MDC. The MDC had thought that as part of the negotiations, Tsvangirai would get a more prominent role such as being Prime minister whilst Mugabe would be a ‘figure head’ President.

The report also suggests that the ZANU PF representatives have left South Africa and are headed back home to consult Mugabe about what transpired in the talks over the last 5 days. Whilst Tsvangirai will be meeting up with his representatives in South Africa. Maybe these talks have not broken down and one can call this occurrence being a ‘time out’ with both parties representatives taking the time out to consult their leaders with regards to what has been discussed so far and then the two parties will get back together and continue talking. But if there is any truth behind there being a ‘third vice-president’ offer for Tsvangirai then it is clear there will be no progress as there is no way MDC will accept that deal.

One then has to wonder; where are the mediators in all this? Is it not their job to try resolve such issues? If even the mediators could not help reach an agreement then really, what solution is there at the end of the tunnel? Maybe it would be best to just get Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mbeki in one room for a couple of hours and get them to reach an agreement themselves instead of getting these representatives to do the talking.

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