Chinamasa accuses Khama of having alliance with Tsvangirai

Chinamasa accuses Khama of having alliance with Tsvangirai
Written by George Chellah in Harare in Zimbabwe
Thursday, November 06, 2008 4:58:31 PM

RULING ZANU-PF lead negotiator in the current power-sharing talks Patrick Chinamasa has accused Botswana President Major General Ian Khama of having an unholy alliance with MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

Chinamasa said President Khama's statement that there should be a re-run of the election in Zimbabwe under international funding and supervision was an act of extreme provocation to Zimbabwe.

Chinamasa told the state media yesterday that President Khama's recent remarks on Zimbabwe were regrettable.

He accused Botswana of adopting a position based on a "heap of lies" that have been given by the opposition MDC.

"The statement is un-statesman-like, unwarranted and unjustified interference in Zimbabwe’s domestic affairs," Chinamasa said.

Chinamasa further alleged that it was becoming evident to all that an unholy alliance exists between President Khama on one hand and Tsvangirai on the other hand.

"It is also clear that he is acting proxy in picking a quarrel with Zimbabwe. In his statement he says we orchestrated political violence to win the June 27 presidential election run-off. He does not tell us the truth, which is that the violence was orchestrated by MDC-T against ZANU-PF supporters," Chinamasa said. "And President Khama, of all the people in the world, has the evidence and is privy to vital information to the effect that it was MDC-T fomenting and perpetrating acts of violence against ZANU-PF."

He said Zimbabwe would go to the bottom of the matter to find out the motivation behind the unholy alliance between President Khama and Tsvangirai.

He said President Khama had no right under international law as an individual or country to interfere in Zimbabwe's domestic affairs.

"Elections are the prerogative of Zimbabweans and when they are ready to be held is a matter of our Constitution. Similarly, whether elections are validly conducted it's the matter which will be determined by our judiciary in accordance with the Constitution and electoral laws," Chinamasa said.

On Monday, President Khama called for an internationally supervised re-run of the presidential election in Zimbabwe.

"We strongly believe that the one viable way forward in Zimbabwe is to have a re-run of the presidential election under full international sponsorship and supervision," President Khama said in his 2008 State of the Nation address. "That way, a repeat of the past run-off presidential election, which was declared by regional and international observers to be neither free nor fair and was characterised by intimidation and violence, can be avoided.

"It should be unacceptable for ruling parties to seek to manipulate election outcomes to extend their stay in power, as this is bad for democracy on our continent."

President Khama and the late Zambian president Levy Mwanawasa were the only southern African leaders that openly criticised the last Zimbabwean elections.