Harare - Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai announced Friday that his party would boycott the country's unity government, accusing President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party of failing to keep its side of the agreement. "It is our right to disengage from a dishonest and unreliable partner," Tsvangirai told a press conference in Harare.
"In this regard, whilst being in government we shall forthwith disengage from Zanu-PF and in particular from cabinet and the council of ministers until such a time as confidence and respect is restored amongst us," the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader said.
Tsvangirai stressed he was not pulling out officially from the eight-month-old coalition government.
The cabinet boycott would last until the "full resolution of all outstanding issues and the substantial implementation of the Global Political Agreement" - the treaty which formed the basis for the government.
Tsvangirai's announcement comes two days after his nominee for deputy agriculture minister, popular MDC politician Roy Bennett, was re-imprisoned pending his trial for alleged possession of weapons with the intent to cause sabotage, terrorism and insurgency.
His re-arrest was seen by many within the MDC as the last straw following eight months of footdragging by Zanu-PF on the implementation of key reforms.
Bennett, 52, is one of a number of MDC politicians to have been arrested since the unity government came into effect on what the MDC calls trumped-up charges.
On Friday, the High Court in Harare ordered that Bennett, 52, be released again on bail pending the start of his trial on October 19.
His case had been due to start in a provincial magistrate's court in Mutare this week but prosecutors successfully applied for it to be moved to Harare.
The MDC accuses the Mugabe-loyal attorney-general's office of conspiring to keep Bennett, a former white farmer, out of office.
MDC leader, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Friday cited the "persecution" of Bennett as a factor behind the party's decision to boycott cabinet.
While the boycott could paralyse government's work, Tsvangirai said the "constitutional crisis" could be resolved if "Zanu-PF and its leadership know that there is a price to pay for procrastination."
Among the other bones of contention between the two parties are Mugabe's unilateral appointment of his cronies to the posts of Reserve Bank governor and attorney general, the unfair distribution between the parties of the posts of provincial governors (all are currently from Zanu-PF), and the selective application of the law.
Seven MPs from the MDC have been tried and convicted for various crimes since February but no Zanu-PF perpetrators of last year's campaign of post-election killings against MDC supporters have been brought to book.
Some MDC members and analysts expressed misgivings over the power-sharing deal from the start.
Despite winning last year's parliamentary elections, the MDC drew the short straw in the coalition.
Zanu-PF maintained control of defense and justice - long used as instruments of repression - while MDC got saddled with cleaning up the country's wrecked finance and health systems.
If the standoff between the parties continues, Tsvangirai said, the only solution would be "a free and fair election."
