KEY POINTS:
Linda Moyo celebrated the swearing in of Zimbabwe's historic unity Government yesterday behind bars at Harare central police station.
The young activist was one of 10 women arrested on the eve of the unveiling of the new Government for attempting to exercise their right to protest. Fellow activists
said she had wanted to test whether or not things in her country had really changed.
Hers was added to the long list of names that Morgan Tsvangirai, who took his oath of office as Prime Minister, has demanded be released.
The arbitrary arrests acted as a reminder that Tsvangirai faces the toughest political assignment in the world. According to one member of the new unity Cabinet, speaking on condition of anonymity, the Prime
Minister's success or failure could be clear within 10 days.
The first litmus test will be the sacking of Gideon Gono, the man who has bankrolled the Mugabe regime from his post as head of the central bank.
"Clearly he's got to go," said the source. "Otherwise there will be no coherence on the economy and the international community won't give us the time of day."
Gono is one of the main figures blamed for the hyperinflation that has rendered Zimbabwe's currency worthless. With unemployment running at 94 per cent and many public servants on strike for a living wage, Zimbabwe needs a massive injection of foreign aid. But few, if any, countries will be willing to commit funds without a clear change of the guard.
Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband said increased aid would "depend on the new Government's actions".
Australia's Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith says no consideration was being given to lifting sanctions.
The Zimbabwe Cabinet source said he expected Gono would be fired early next week along with the attorney general. There would be serious consequences, he said, if it doesn't happen in that timeframe.
"Clearly we've got to move very fast. If we don't pay the Army next week then we're in big trouble," he added.
After the swearing in, Tsvangirai pledged to swiftly pay civil servants in foreign currency to "get the country back to work". Other key demands from the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) include the release of political prisoners and an immediate "end to land invasions and restoration of the rule of law".
While many within the MDC remain sceptical over the future of the unity government, others have been reassured by the intervention of South Africa's caretaker President, Kgalema Motlanthe. "The chances have been increased by a more proactive South Africa. Without Motlanthe we wouldn't be at this point," said an MDC source.
The new venture comes just as the main precedent for Zimbabwe's deal - Kenya's power-sharing Administration - is in danger of falling apart. The East African nation recently declared a national emergency because of famine, there are chronic fuel shortages and analysts have warned that corruption is spiralling out of control.
The starting point for Zimbabwe is far worse than it was for Kenya a year ago. It has had its worst harvest since independence and a cholera epidemic has killed 3500 people. Mugabe's inner circle still controls the military and the police, and hundreds of political prisoners languish in jail.
- INDEPENDENT
