President Robert Mugabe effectively cast the last die in efforts to form a unity government in Zimbabwe when he vowed that his party’s economic and social policies were not negotiable during talks to break a deadlock over control of key cabinet portfolios.
Officially closing a three-day annual conference of his ZANU PF party in Bindura to the northwest of Harare on Saturday, Mugabe told his supporters that there would be no unity government as long as there are differences over land, education, health, economic and foreign policies.
“We don’t want a unity that takes us back in terms of our policies on the education sector, health, agriculture, the economy, foreign policy and more importantly the land redistribution program,†he said.
He added: “We will never accept retrogression in terms of our land policyâ€.
Mugabe’s comments would widen the rift between ZANU PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) which has been critical of the Zimbabwean leader’s policies.
The MDC and other critics blame Mugabe for ruining Zimbabwe’s once robust economy, particularly after he embarked on the controversial land reform program which led to food shortages.
The unity government was viewed by many as the best chance Zimbabwe has to pull out of an eight-year economic crisis highlighted by acute shortages of food, fuel, electricity as well as world record inflation of more than 230 million percent.
Source African Press Agency
