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Zimbabwe: 30 Years of Self-rule…but still in Shaky Unity

By on April 19, 2010

President Robert Mugabe has called for unity and political tolerance among Zimbabweans as the southern African country celebrates 30 years of self-rule Sunday. He also blamed Western sanctions for slowing down the pace of the southern African country’s economic recovery which began last year after he formed a unity government with archrival Morgan Tsvangirai under a power-sharing pact brokered by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in September 2008.
Mugabe urged Zimbabweans to shun political violence which he said was a cancer threatening to derail a 14-month-old coalition government he formed with former rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
“The country belongs to all of us. We are all nationals of Zimbabwe regardless of our political affiliations, religions, race, age or color,” Mugabe told thousands of Zimbabweans who gathered at Harare’s National Sports Stadium for the main independence celebrations.
The shaky unity government has been rocked by in-fighting between Mugabe’s ZANU PF party and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by Tsvangirai over how to share power.
The parties are bickering over appointments of provincial governors, the attorney general and central bank chief while they also do not agree on key issues regarding foreign and economic policy.
The squabbling has spilled outside the government amid reports of violence and intimidation of political opponents in the countryside.

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