The bitter feud between Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and the opposition appeared to be easing Monday after the government agreed to soften its tough security and media laws ahead of next year's election.
Amid ongoing talks between the ruling ZANU-PF and main opposition Movement for Democratic Change, the government published proposals to amend the Public Order and Security Act, Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, and the Broadcasting Services Act.
While the MDC said they would prefer the laws be scrapped in their entirety, they expressed continued commitment to the talks being mediated by South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki which analysts said were now bearing real fruit.
"What it shows is that Zimbabweans can sit down and resolve issues," deputy information minister Brighton Matonga told AFP. "The opposition has shown maturity. They now realise they don't need to go to other countries to seek intervention in purely internal national matters."
MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said the party would have preferred "a wholesale package not piecemeal amendments" but it nevertheless "remains committed to the process of dialogue". The three pieces of legislation have all been introduced since 83-year-old Mugabe's disputed re-election in 2002 when he fended off a challenge by MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
The security laws have been used by authorities to ban protests by opposition groups, including a rally in March when Tsvangarai and other opposition figures were assaulted by the security services. The media law has been used to expel at least a dozen foreign correspondents and shut down four independent newspapers including a popular daily renowned for its anti-government stance.
The proposed changes to the laws, contained in a government gazette, would compel police to meet with organisers of rallies if they intend to ban them. Only if there is reason to believe a rally could turn violent can it be banned.
Other amendments would provide for the reconstitution of the media commission to include representatives of journalists' unions as well as opening up the airwaves to private broadcaster by easing licensing requirements. Mbeki was mandated by leaders of the regional Southern African Development Community (SADC) in March to broker talks between Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and the MDC.
Signs of progress came in September when the MDC reached an agreement with the government on the adoption of a bill which paves the way for joint presidential and legislative elections next year.
Chamisa said the two sides remained at odds in several key areas, declaring "a deadlock on critical issues such as the constitution and the voters' roll and the general behaviour of ZANU-PF." But Joseph Kurebga, a political scientist at the University of Zimbabwe, said there were clear signs their stand-off was ending.
"The two groups are now closer to reaching an agreement than any other time before. It's no longer impossible for the two groups to reach a compromise," he said. "The gap between the two sides is narrowing. The fact that government has agreed to amend the security law means the assumed threat posed by the MDC is declining."
Godfrey Chikowore, an analyst at Harare's Institute of Development Studies, agreed the omens for an agreement on an election framework were good. "They have equally agreed on the amendments. It shows an agreement will be reached soon. We see no other reason they would fail to reach an agreement." Once seen as a post-colonial success story, Zimbabwe is in the throes of an economic crisis with annual inflation officially at nearly 8,000 percent.
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