To sign or Not to sign

That is the question that is no doubt running back and forth in Morgan Tsvangirai and his closest allies' minds right now and has been for the past two or so weeks.

Whether it is nobler for Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC to give up 10years of struggle against a regime that has killed, maimed and looted by just signing away authority back to them and acknowledging ZANU PF’s rule at Zimbabwe's lowest point in all possible terms. Or is it easier to continue with the fight that the MDC has waged for the last ten years as an opposition party, but with the knowledge that they have the majority in Parliament and the people's mandate.

The talks have gone on for more than a month now, two weeks more than what was agreed. The talks are said to be hovering around three sticking points. The first being the amount of powers that Mugabe as president and Tsvangirai as Prime Minster should weld, the second being the time length of the agreement before fresh elections are held and lastly the size of the cabinet.

It has always been a tough call for Morgan and the negotiators to sit down with the enemy and try to reach a compromise. The old adage " Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer" should however explain why Robert Mugabe has for the first time been willing to discuss a power sharing deal with a group he has called all sorts of names from prostitutes to puppets of the west since time immemorial. The defeat his party suffered on the March 29 elections was a wake call that made him realize how they could never win a free and fair election.

The questions to us young people today are, Should Morgan Tsvangirai agree to brush under the carpet the trials and tribulations of the last three or so decades and pretend all is well by gaining a post equivalent to that of a school prefect? Will an agreement between ZANU PF and MDC with Mugabe as a powerful President bring about the much needed economic transformation? Must it be enough for Morgan Tsvangirai and a few of his comrades to gain government posts, while Mugabe and his lieutenants are given amnesty and heroes' status for atrocities carried out against millions of Zimbabweans? Or should the MDC continue the struggle for the democratization of Zimbabwe continue in the knowledge that power does not lie in controlling the uniformed forces, but in the hands of the electorate.

Let us know what you think, post your comment on the blog. Speak your mind!