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July 2010 Vol 19, Cover Stories, Parliament and Politics

Tsvangirai to address a 'star' rally in Hwange

By Staff reporter and agencies   Fri, Jul 30, 2010

Zimbabwe Prime Minister President Morgan Tsvangirai will on Saturday present an overview of the performance of the inclusive government to party supporters in the mining town of Hwange, more than 300 km northwest of Zimbabwe's second largest city of Bulawayo. ( File Picture: Tsvangirai draws big crowds of supporters at MDC rallies)

Tsvangirai to address a 'star' rally in Hwange

Zimbabwe Prime Minister President Morgan Tsvangirai will on Saturday present an overview of the performance of the inclusive government to party supporters in the mining town of Hwange, more than 300 km northwest of Zimbabwe's second largest city of Bulawayo.

The rally comes at a time when the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is complaining bitterly about alleged continued violations of the power-sharing Global Political Agreement (GPA) by President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party.

Bickering over the outstanding issues had until recently taken back-stage as the parties focused on the constitution-making process and possible elections in 2011. But this changed when Mugabe re-deployed ambassadors without considering officials from the other parties in the inclusive government.

Tsvangirai is the leader of the bigger of two MDC factions, while Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara leads the other.

A spokesman for Tsvangirai's party told Xinhua on Thursday that Tsvangirai and other senior party officials will brief their supporters on the performance of the inclusive government and the progress made since the start of the Constitution-making process in June.

"The rally, branded as the "Real Change" rally is meant for President Tsvangirai and the real Change team to brief the people on the performance of the inclusive government and the progress made since the start of the Constitution-making process, which kicked off in June," the spokesman said in a statement.

Tsvangirai is also expected to touch on the health and life of the inclusive as well as the state of outstanding issues in the GPA.

The MDC has accused Zanu-PF of perpetrating acts of violence and intimidation against rival party supporters during the constitution-making outreach program, where teams are seeking people's views on the new supreme law of the country.

However, Zanu-PF's chief spokesman Rugare Gumbo has dismissed the allegations as baseless.

"Those allegations are intended mainly to smear Zanu-PF. Our strategy is better than theirs and we have prepared our people to present our party positions to the outreach teams in a way that is better than theirs. I don't think there is any substance to those allegations," Gumbosaid in a recent interview.

The inclusive government is a creature of the Southern African Development Community-brokered GPA following the absence of a clear winner in the 2008 legislative elections and a disputed presidential election won by Mugabe.

All the three parties involved in the GPA also agreed that a new constitution should precede the holding of fresh elections, although the given time-frame for conducting the exercise and the two-year life-span of the inclusive government no longer tally.

The new constitution was supposed to be ready 18 months after the installation of the inclusive government in February 2009.

According to a revised timetable, the draft should be ready by February 2011, with a referendum scheduled three months later.

By Staff reporter and agencies

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