Drama seemed to unfold almost everyday on the political stage with squabbles, violence, scandals, exposures and even mysterious deaths shaking the nation.
Unending disputes among the coalition government partners, Zanu PF and the two MDC formations, over the implementation of outstanding issues to the Global Political Agreement (GPA) dogged the nation for the whole year with not much progress made.
The Southern African Development Community (Sadc) continued to intervene, albeit with little success, in repeated attempts to resolve the Zimbabwean crisis.
The watershed Livingstone Troika summit in Zambia was held in March where for the first time President Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF came under fire from the regional bloc for allegedly engaging in acts of violence, intimidation and harassment of opponents.
A subsequent Sadc extraordinary summit held in June in South Africa endorsed the Livingstone Troika resolutions despite spirited efforts by Zanu PF hawks to discredit and reverse the outcome of the Zambia summit.
The two summits effectively threw to the wind Mugabe’s desire to hold elections this year as Sadc put its foot down, declaring that the bloc will not tolerate rushed elections before the implementation of an agreed roadmap.
Political analyst Takura Zhangazha says it has since turned out that the inclusive government and the political parties in it have been demonstrating a “false urgency” when it came to dealing with Sadc on the outstanding issues such as security sector reforms and appointment of provincial governors.
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“These issues seem to be somewhat subdued as the year closes,” he notes. “This demonstrates that either our political leaders have short memories or are now comfortable with each other to the extent that they no longer have as many differences as they had when the year started.”
Zanu PF’s trump card continued to be the issue of Western sanctions. The party launched an anti-sanctions campaign in March aimed at collecting over two million signatures on a petition against the targeted measures it blames for the economic mess in the country.
The government has since threatened to approach international courts to challenge the sanctions.
Tsvangirai storm over marriage
Tsvangirai torched a political storm after a controversial “marriage” to Harare businesswoman Locadia Karimatsenga Tembo in November which badly damaged his image.
Tsvangirai walked away from the marriage, 12 days after the traditional ceremony, claiming to be a victim of people trying to discredit him politically, but his opponents pounced, accusing him of promiscuity in the face of an Aids pandemic.
