Zimbabwe’s three main political parties have agreed to form a coalition government and observers shouldn’t “read too much” into opposition complaints about how it will be constituted, a senior South African government official said.

The 15-nation Southern African Development Community decided at a meeting in Pretoria yesterday that Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai should be appointed prime minister by Feb. 11. The MDC subsequently said it wasn’t satisfied with the ruling and its leadership would decide at a Jan. 30 meeting whether to join President Robert Mugabe’s government.

“The parties have the right to consult their mandating bodies,” Frank Chikane, the director-general of South Africa’s presidency, told reporters in Pretoria today. “There is an agreement in Zimbabwe on how to resolve the political challenges. You do lose things and gain things in a negotiated settlement. We can solve most problems” once the unity government is in place.

Zimbabwe has been in political limbo since a Sept. 15 accord signed by Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, leader of an MDC faction, amid disagreements over who will control key ministries and the police force. Tsvangirai won the most votes in a presidential election in March. He pulled out of a June runoff because of violence against his supporters, enabling Mugabe to extend his 28-year rule.

‘Sincerity Deficit’

“Outstanding issues were not treated with the justice and fairness that we expected” at the SADC summit, the MDC said in an e-mailed statement today. These include the ruling party’s “yawning sincerity deficit, fairness and equity in the allocation of ministerial portfolios and the extra-legal abductions and detentions of innocent civic and party activists.”

The MDC also wants more clarity on how senior appointments, including that of the central bank governor and the attorney general, will be made.

“So far the two parties haven’t shown any sign that they can agree with each other, though a political agreement is critical,” Eldred Masunungure, a politics professor at the University of Zimbabwe, said in a telephone interview. “There seem to be internal struggles in the MDC which presents Tsvangirai with a challenge, though it’s likely he will prevail over the hawks in his party.”

Speculation of a rift within the Tsvangirai-led MDC was unfounded, the party said.

“The MDC leadership is clear on the goal, direction and processes in our quest for democracy in Zimbabwe,” it said. “All our national council resolutions on this matter have been unanimous.”

The southern African nation has experienced a decade of recession, while inflation was estimated in July at 231 million percent. Zimbabwe’s health, sewage and water systems have collapsed, exacerbating a cholera outbreak that has killed at least 3,028 people since August and infected at least 57,702, according to the United Nations.