Tough balancing act for Zimbabwe’s unity government ahead of elections

Zimbabwes inclusive government is now in a delicate state as parties position themselves for impending elections amid growing disharmony over the handling of the constitutional process.Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai this week also acknowledged that the discord over policy differences that had characterised the inclusive governments 36 months of existence would get worse as the country moved towards elections.This government continues to lurch along. It remains mired in the usual policy discord which is likely to worsen as we trudge towards the next election, he said.According to the power-sharing Global Political Agreement that brought together President Robert Mugabes Zanu-PF and the two MDC factions led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Welshman Ncube in an interim government, parliament has to spearhead the crafting of a new constitution before fresh elections are held.However, after more than 44 million U.S. dollars and three years spent on a constitutional draft, there is growing acrimony among the parties on the way forward, to the extent that Zanu-PF is tacitly threatening to derail the process if its proposed amendments to the draft are not accommodated.Tsvangirai says Mugabes party has completely re-written the constitutional draft and left out what the people said during the outreach to gather their views. Zanu-PF also argues along the same lines and accuses the drafters of leaving outwhat the people said. The smaller MDC faction led by Ncube is fighting in Tsvangirais corner and als accuses Mugabes party of tampering with the peoples views.Tsvangirai said at his monthly press briefing Tuesday that a deadlock was now inevitable and hoped that the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which brokered the GPAafter disputed elections in 2008, would once again intervene. After all, Africa, and in particular