Mugabe Continues to Push Forward (And Thus Backward)
Robert Mugabe does indeed intend to move forward with the formation of a new government over the protests of the Movement for Democratic Change, which wants to see the stalled negotiations resume. Junior information minister Bright Matonga announced “Nothing is going to stop us from forming a new government.”
The MDC believes Mugabe is acting in bad faith, which is, of course, how Mugabe tends to act. The negotiations were likely not to go anywhere because Mugabe had no interest in them going anywhere. Perhaps Thabo Mbeki or other SADC heads of state may bring pressure to bear to get Mugabe to negotiate, but surely once Mugabe has a government in place he will move forward with (mis)governing. One has to imagine that the reception he received when he opened Parliament from MDC MP’s only solidified his obstinacy. If we know anything, we know that Robert Mugabe is not a man who likes to be confronted, particularly by countrymen over whom he believes he has complete domain.