President Robert Mugabe called Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai "dishonest," state media said Saturday, casting doubt on whether a dispute threatening Zimbabwe's unity government can be resolved. "We must no longer trust those who pretend to be in the inclusive government and have jumped in and out of it," Mugabe was quoted as saying in the state-run Herald newspaper.
"They can never be true and genuine partners and they have proved to be dishonest," he said. "We, however, want to assure you that we will not allow the situation to continue like that." Tsvangirai, the former opposition leader, joined the unity government with his long-time rival Mugabe in February in a bid to end political violence and halt the nation's economic freefall.
But two weeks ago he suspended co-operation with Mugabe's party in protest over the arrest of Roy Bennett, his nominee for deputy agriculture minister who is facing terrorism charges. A team from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) arrived in Harare on Wednesday in hopes of breaking the deadlock.
On Friday, the delegation announced that there was need for a full SADC summit to address problems related to the power sharing agreement. Mugabe said the decision by Tsvangirai's party to halt co-operation with the 85-year-old president's ZANU-PF was hypocritical.
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