Harare - When any section of the Zimbabwe civil service goes on strike, the usual retort from the long-suffering public is: "How do you tell the difference?"

A year after the heady inauguration of the country's power-sharing government between autocratic President Robert Mugabe, 85, and his former opposition opponent, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabweans want to know: "How do you tell the difference? (between this government and Mugabe's previous regime)."

The unlikely cohabitation of Mugabe and Tsvangirai was brought about in talks mediated in 2008 by southern African leaders.

Mugabe had lost parliamentary and a first round of presidential elections in March that year. Three months later, he was declared the winner of the second round of presidential elections after a bloody crackdown on the opposition, in which around 200 supporters of Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) were killed.

Yet Mugabe emerged from the negotiations to continue as executive president and Tsvangirai was coerced by regional leaders, most of them Mugabe allies, into accepting the distinctly lesser job of prime minister.

Not much to celebrate

A detailed agreement signed by the two was meant to lead to the drafting of a new constitution by the end of 2010, a referendum to approve it next year and then, free and fair elections.

But progress towards those goals has been scant. "Not much to celebrate," said one MDC government official, confirming no official celebrations were planned. "(Mugabe's) Zanu-PF is in charge and it's business as usual."

On the government's first anniversary on Thursday, popular white MDC treasurer and deputy agriculture minister-designate Roy Bennett will be back in the dock in his drawn-out trial on what human rights lawyers call clearly trumped-up charges of terrorism.

Another MDC official, Pascal Gwezere, was finally released from police custody last week after being tortured and detained for three months for allegedly stealing military firearms. He was released for lack of evidence.

Three weeks ago a 70-year-old Dominican nun was beaten up by police for "resisting arrest," according to church sources.

Farm invasions

The past year has also seen resurgence in the violent invasions of white-owned farms. Only 300 white farmers are precariously left on the land, out of the 4,500 that were farming when Mugabe gave the nod for lawless land grabs to begin in 2000.

Aid agencies are feeding 2.7 million people after a ninth consecutive failed agricultural season.

There have been some positive developments, however. Most Zimbabweans are in better health and have far more purchasing power than they did before power-sharing.

A terrifying cholera epidemic that claimed 4 300 lives was stopped by May last year thanks to Western aid agencies.

The shelves of shops that were emptied by Mugabe's price controls are full again, inflation is down to a manageable 4% and the endless queuing for wages in worthless Zimbabwe dollars is over after Tsvangirai's finance minister, Tendai Biti, adopted the US dollar and South African rand as national currencies.

Political violence has also fallen dramatically.

But hopes for an end to Mugabe's rule by repression, as promised by the accord he signed with Tsvangirai which underpins the unity government, remain elusive.

New constitution

The drafting of a new constitution, regarded as the most important item in the accord, is running six months behind schedule.

A year after applications to set up new independent radio stations were due to be processed, Zanu-PF, known for its propagandistic invective, continues to monopolise the media, and no new newspapers have been permitted.

On a raft of major issues, from Mugabe's unilateral appointment of a party crony as attorney-general, to his refusal to swear in provincial governors from the MDC, the two coalition parties have been in deadlock for the entire year.

"Every step that is meant to lead to reforms, freedom of expression, the entrenchment of human rights, is being blocked by Zanu-PF. Because that means them losing power," a Western diplomat, who did not wish to be named, said.

At the weekend Tsvangirai said he was "cautiously optimistic" over the future of the transitional government. Finance minister Biti was less upbeat. "Zanu-PF is trying to strangle this fledgling authority on its first birthday," he said.

By SAPA

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