Tsvangirai's ministers snub Zimbabwe cabinet

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's party boycotted a meeting of Zimbabwe's cabinet on Monday on the grounds that it made a mockery of the country's power-sharing deal.

The 13 ministers from Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) pulled out of the meeting after it was brought forward to accommodate President Robert Mugabe, who was to fly to the African Union summit in Libya later.

"This morning we were advised that cabinet had been shifted from its mandated day of Tuesday to Monday," Tsvangirai's deputy Thokozani Khupe told journalists.

"The decision seeks to deny recognition of the prime minister as chair of cabinet when the president is away. Mr Mugabe has indicated he will not be present on Tuesday and hence the decision to move cabinet forward to today," said Khupe.

The former rivals set up a power-sharing government in February meant to stabilise Zimbabwe nearly a year after disputed polls plunged the country into further economic and political chaos.

Khupe said the decision to move the meeting "reflects unilateralism, disrespect, contempt and refusal to recognise the reality and the letter of the global political agreement."

"We will not attend an informal unilateral meeting," she added at a press conference attended by the 13 MDC ministers, including Finance Minister Tendai Biti and Home Affairs Minister Giles Mutsekwa.

Khupe also expressed disappointment at the issues that remained unresolved four months after the coalition government was formed.

"For a long time we have remained the polite and subservient upholders of the global political agreement, against clear evidence of the absence of a reliable and honest partner," said Khupe.

Among the outstanding issues listed were the appointments of provincial governors and ambassadors, as well as the dispute over the appointments of the attorney-general and the central bank governor.

"Further evidence of a lack of paradigm shift is the deliberate refusal to convene the national security council," Khupe said. "The national security council became law in February 2009 and demands that the security council meets once every month.

"Four months later, it has not yet met simply because a few elite securocrats do not recognise the authority of the new order."