BiAS 7 – The Bible and Politics in Africa
Formation of the Government of National Unity (GNU)
The formation of the unity government was tortuous. The Churches of
Zimbabwe played a critical role in bringing the antagonistic principles to
the negotiating table. The seating president had indicated during his
campaigning speeches for the harmonized elections that he was pre-
pared to hold talks with the opposition MDC with the view to form an
all-inclusive government after the elections. This was probably based on
the understanding that the MDC was going to fare quite well against
ZANU PF, a development which would call for the formation of such a
government. Mugabe was also aware of the fact that ZANU PF had
failed the economy that its chances of resuscitating it alone were non-
existent.
Mugabe’s main concern was to hold on to power regardless of the con-
sequences thereof. However, at this juncture, Mugabe had been forced
into checkmate that he had to revisit his consistent and iron-clad intoler-
ance for opposition politics which can be dated back to the Matabeleland
massacres. After the announcement of the results of the run-off “elec-
tions”, secret meetings were held between Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mu-
tambara (President of the smaller MDC faction which defected from the
MDC following internal misunderstandings). These talks resulted in the
singing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the
three formations on Monday 21 July 2008. The SADC appointed media-
tor, former president of South Africa Thabo Mbeki played a pivotal role
in the singing of the MOU. The MOU was to build the agenda for full-
scale talks between the three formations and it was agreed that the talks
were to be completed within three weeks following the singing of the
GNU.
The formations agreed that the talks were to be concluded within two
weeks of the signing of the MOU. The MOU was predicated on the
shared understanding that the formation of an all-inclusive government
was the only way of extricating Zimbabwe from its economic and politi-
cal crisis. Given the antagonism which existed between the MDC and
ZANU PF in general and Tsvangirai and Mugabe in particular, the peo-
ple of Zimbabwe had never envisioned a situation whereby the two par-
ties could settle for talks. The signing of the MOU raised much hope
among the people of Zimbabwe.
The MOU built a foundation which witnessed the holding of a series of
meetings between the three political parties. The parties agreed that