Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai told a public meeting Wednesday in Gweru, the Midlands province capital, that the country’s leadership is committed to the global political agreement but that has not sufficiently filtered down to the grass-roots activists.
Mr. Tsvangirai was addressing around 200 senior public administrators, business leaders and members of civil society at Cathedral Hall in Gweru.
He said many members of the governing parties - his own Movement for Democratic Change formation, the rival one led by Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, and the ZANU-PF of President Robert Mugabe - have not thrown their support behind the government because they were left without positions. He said the government's biggest challenge is funding.
Correspondent Taurai Shava of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe who said Tsvangirai wanted to clear up misunderstandings amongst voters about the nature of power-sharing.
Tsvangirai spokesman James Maridadi told reporter Brenda Moyo that Tsvangirai in Gweru as previously in Masvingo wanted to maintain direct contact with and inform stakeholders.
Though Mr. Tsvangirai today put a positive spin on the cohesiveness of the unity government he has not always taken that line of argument.
MDC sources say that on Saturday he’ll ask South African President Jacob Zuma, chairman of the South African Development Community, to intervene through SADC, a guarantor of the power-sharing arrangement, to help settle a number of outstanding issues still troubling the so-called inclusive government as it approaches its six-month anniversary.
VOA reporter Peter Clottey turned to political analyst Glen Mpani of South Africa’s Center for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation who says many are impatient with Zimbabwe's fractious government, ranging from ordinary citizens to potential Western donors.
