THE power-sharing deal in Zimbabwe appeared to be heading towards collapse yesterday as President Robert Mugabe allocated key ministries to his ruling party, including those in control of the army, the police and finance.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) immediately issued a statement saying the deal, brokered by Thabo Mbeki, the former South African president, was now “in jeopardy”.

Mugabe announced that he was handing all the most important ministries to his Zanu-PF party, including defence, foreign policy, financial affairs and media.

The MDC is left with the rump, including culture, science, sport and constitutional matters.

Nelson Chamisa, an MDC spokesman, said: “The MDC totally and absolutely rejects this nonsense.”

The distribution of government posts would keep Mugabe, whose supporters have murdered and intimidated opposition activists during two election campaigns this year, in control of the security forces.

Mbeki was invited back to Zimbabwe last week to try to restart talks and is due in Harare tomorrow. But since he was ousted as South Africa’s leader last month, his authority has been greatly diminished. Yesterday’s announcement severely restricts his room for manoeuvre.

The MDC had assumed the deal would ensure that it controlled the police while Zanu-PF ran the army, but after weeks of talks no progress has been made.

Zimbabwe’s economy is fast imploding. Inflation last week soared to 231,000,000%.

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