(NEWZIMBABWE) Biti fit to attend inter-party talks

Biti fit to attend inter-party talks
by Lebo Nkatazo
25/03/2010 00:00:00

FINANCE Minister Tendai Biti, after surviving a car accident on Tuesday night, has been passed fit by doctors to attend inter-party talks aimed at breaching a political impasse in Zimbabwe’s unity government.

Biti was discharged from a private hospital in Harare on Thursday morning and immediately left for Nyanga where negotiators from the three main political parties were gathering.

Biti escaped with minor injuries after his Toyota Hilux, written-off after the accident, was clipped by a haulage truck going the opposite way near Chegutu. The minister is believed to have been driving himself, but neither the ministry nor his MDC party have disclosed his business in the small town 110km south-west of Harare.

Police spokesman Senior Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena told New Zimbabwe.com on Thursday police had interviewed both Biti and the driver of the haulage truck but no arrests had been made.

"We are still investigating and we have not made a decision yet to bring charges against anyone," Bvudzijena said.

In a statement on Thursday, the MDC led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said: “Hon Biti will today leave for the eastern border town of Nyanga for the SADC-brokered inter-party talks with negotiators from the two other parties in line with the time frames set by South Africa President Jacob Zuma.”

Zuma was in Zimbabwe last week aiming to smooth differences in the year-old power sharing government formed after disputed elections in 2008.

Zuma said he had made “substantial” progress in the talks, and the Zimbabwe leaders President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara had “instructed their negotiating teams to attend to all outstanding matters during their deliberations on 25, 26 and 29 March” and to report back to him by March 31.

Biti is the lead negotiator from his MDC party while the delegation from the rival MDC led by Mutambara is headed by Industry and Commerce Minister Welshman Ncube and Zanu PF’s team by Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa.