Mugabe Trying to Bribe Opposition Mps to Join Government

Robert Mugabe is attempting to lure opposition members of parliament into a new government with promises of influence and wealth in a bid to legitimize his refusal to relinquish power.

The move comes as Mugabe prepares to persuade a summit of southern African leaders in Johannesburg tomorrow that he is striving to put together a power-sharing administration with the opposition. But the governments of Botswana and Zambia have already joined Mugabe's opponents in Zimbabwe in accusing the president of negotiating in bad faith.

Tendai Biti, secretary general of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, said cabinet ministers in Mugabe's Zanu-PF party and senior officials of the Central Intelligence Organization have approached dozens of MPs from his party, which became the largest in parliament at the March elections.

"They're asking at least 30 of our MPs to send in their CVs and asking if they willing to join the government. It's an attempt to buy them off," he said. "This crude Machiavellian behavior shows the way Mugabe operates. He says he is negotiating in good faith and meanwhile he's trying to form an illegitimate government."

Mugabe is desperate to win recognition from neighboring states for his continued rule in the hope that if he can persuade African governments that he heads a legitimate administration, representing all major parties, they will pressure western nations to provide aid to rescue Zimbabwe's imploding economy.

Yesterday, intelligence officials detained Biti and the MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, at Harare airport and confiscated their passports as the men were headed to Johannesburg for the summit. The passports were returned hours later after South Africa intervened.

Biti said the attempt to stop them traveling is a reflection of divisions in Zanu-PF over whether to shift power to Tsvangirai.

"I think they are sending a loud and clear message that they're still the mafia they were. The sooner Mbeki recognises that the better," he said.

"The people behind this are the people in Zanu-PF don't want an agreement. They are desperate. Zanu-PF is divided between the junta who don't want an agreement and a small section that recognises the writing is on the wall and they have to do a deal," he said.