Although Tsvangirai's MDC organisation was not invited to participate, it declined to do so, reiterating its refusal to recognise Mugabe as president and saying that discussions should take place only in the presence of an AU-appointed mediator.
[3] In a report from the Human Sciences Research Council, a policy group in South Africa, that was released on 10 July, Peter Kagwanja wrote that violence perpetrated against ZANU-PF by MDC supporters, which he described as having previously been spontaneous, was becoming more organised, and he warned that this increased the possibility of a civil war.
[4] On 11 July, the MDC said that Gift Mutsvungunu, a party official, had been found dead near Harare on the previous day; his body was said to be burned and his eyes gouged out.
Also on 16 July, the pro-MDC Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions condemned the second round and urged the appointment of a prominent AU envoy to assist in mediation.
Mugabe said that the aim of the talks was to "chart a new way, a new way of political interaction", while Tsvangirai described the agreement as "the first tentative step towards searching for a solution for a country that is in crisis".
[14] The Herald reported on 25 July that the ZANU-PF Politburo had decided that any agreement with the opposition must leave Mugabe in office as president and must not threaten land reform.
[21] During a visit to Senegal in which he met with Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, Tsvangirai said on 31 July that he was "fairly satisfied" with the way the negotiations were proceeding, while acknowledging that some "sticking points" remained.
On the same day, as part of its "Let's Talk for a Change" campaign, the MDC had an advertisement published in The Standard, in which it acknowledged that Mugabe had taken a positive step by accepting power-sharing negotiations.
Tsvangirai expressed continued commitment to dialogue on 13 August, saying that any agreement needed to "put the people first, not leadership positions and titles"; meanwhile, Mbeki, who had left Zimbabwe, maintained that it was still "possible to conclude these negotiations quite quickly".
On 20 August, however, the MDC took a firmer stance, declaring the move to convene Parliament to be unacceptable, with Biti stating that it would "be a clear repudiation of the Memorandum of Understanding, and an indication beyond reasonable doubt of ZANU-PF's unwillingness to continue to be part of the talks.
[47] Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga reiterated on 28 August that Mugabe intended to form a Cabinet, saying that this was necessary for the country to move forward, to improve the economy and alleviate suffering.
Some observers speculated that, by announcing his intention to form a Cabinet, Mugabe was attempting to force the MDC into accepting the power-sharing conditions favoured by ZANU-PF.
[53] US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer said on 5 September that negotiations should continue, warning that her government would consider a Cabinet formed unilaterally by Mugabe to be a "sham".
[citation needed] At the end of the fourth day of negotiations Mbeki announced that Mugabe, Tsvangirai, and Mutambara had signed a power-sharing agreement – "memorandum of understanding.
But Jendayi E. Frazer, the American assistant secretary of state for African affairs, said: "We don’t know what’s on the table, and it’s hard to rally for an agreement when no one knows the details or even the broad outlines".
With a symbolic handshake and warm smiles at the Rainbow Towers hotel, in Harare, Mugabe and Tsvangirai signed the deal to end the violent political crisis.
[71] In The Herald on 17 September, Chinamasa said that the necessary constitutional amendments to provide a legal basis for some aspects of the agreement would be considered by Parliament after it began sitting on 14 October.
[72] Mugabe, in a speech to the ZANU-PF Central Committee that was broadcast live on 17 September, described the agreement as a "humiliation", but said that the party could have avoided the situation if it had not "blundered" in March, when it failed to win a parliamentary majority.
[73] The parties held talks regarding the allocation of portfolios on 18 September, but according to Chamisa, the MDC-T spokesman, no agreement was reached and "the matter [was] referred to the negotiators".
Aside from this, Tsvangirai expressed concern regarding the stark and bitter language in the column (which was generally believed to have been written by Mugabe's spokesman George Charamba, under the pen name Nathaniel Manheru), describing it as hateful.
[76] Only a few days after the agreement was signed, Mbeki was forced to resign as President of South Africa by his party, the African National Congress (ANC).
According to Mubita, Mbeki was appointed as mediator "based on his knowledge, understanding and acumen of the situation" and did not necessarily need to be a sitting president to serve in that role.
MDC-T spokesman Chamisa denounced the publication of the list as "unilateral, contemptuous and outrageous", saying that such imbalance in the importance of the portfolios would effectively give ZANU-PF control of the government.
"[92] An official close to the presidency said the dilution of Mugabe's powers promised in the agreement was "illusory", and described the MDC as merely a "junior partner" whose only role would be "to gain legitimacy and international funds".
The MDC would be offered the finance ministry, in an effort to persuade donors that real reform was taking place so that would trigger billions in aid and reconstruction.
[105] On 24 November, Motlanthe, the President of South Africa, urged the parties to reach an agreement, warning that if they did not, "the situation will get worse and will implode or collapse altogether".
[110] In remarks published in The Herald on 5 December, Mugabe told the ZANU-PF Politburo that "if the arrangement fails to work in the next one-and-a-half to two years", there would be an early election.
Chamisa stressed that the outstanding issues of cabinet portfolios and provincial governors still needed to be resolved, while Chinamasa echoed Mugabe's earlier warning that he would call a new election if power-sharing was not successful.
Tsvangirai designated the MDC's choices for Cabinet positions on the same day; these included Tendai Biti as Minister of Finance and Giles Mutseyekwa as Co-Minister of Home Affairs.
On 13 February 2009, shortly before the planned swearing-in ceremony of the government, the MDC's nominee for deputy agriculture minister, Roy Bennett, was arrested at the Harare airport.