Mugabe and his negotiators are already in the capital Mbabane but Tsvangirai is still in Harare sorting out travel documents. It can be revealed that pages of his passport are full but the government has, over the past two months, denied him another passport, only to give him an Emmergency Travel Document (ETD) on Sunday. He does not have a South African Visa on the new document and can not travel.

The Swaziland meeting which is hosted by King Mswati under the auspices of the SADC Troika on Politics and Defence shall hear from the facilitator, former South African President Thabo Mbeki, a report on the progress of the now failed talks before debating and passing resolutions. The regional meeting follows calls by Tsvangirai to have broader facilitation following a deadlock on Friday.

"Regrettably, after four days of intense negotiations, we have failed to agree ... [and] therefore a deadlock has been declared," said Tsvangirai. "There is an attempt to reduce the MDC to a meaningless position.”

All Mugabe could say about the deadlocked talks was that they went well but in the wrong direction.

Tsvangirai was quick to acknowledge the suffering of the ordinary people as a result of the delayed conclusion of the talks: "We are mindful of the suffering of the people of Zimbabwe and the collapse of the economy as a result of decades of dictatorship, corruption and mismanagement. However, we are conscious that the people of Zimbabwe will not accept window-dressing and an empty political settlement that will not guarantee food, jobs, medicines, freedom and prosperity."

Tsvangirai said they had failed to agree with hard-headed Mugabe over allocation of key cabinet ministries. Mugabe wants all top four key posts of home affairs, defence, finance and foreign affairs of which the MDC says it should get home affairs and finance. He said: ‘We believe that for an inclusive government to work, the principles of equitable sharing of power should be embraced. It appears we are far apart on this principle…We have failed to agree on the allocation of ministerial positions.”

Speaking to journalists Friday, Tsvangirai said Zanu-PF was negotiating in bad faith. "An idiot wouldn't accept that…That is not power sharing, it is power grabbing…Robert Mugabe, stop that because if you don't, we have no right to be part of such an arrangement (government)," Tsvangirai said hinting that his party may pull out of the whole agreement if Mugabe defies logic.

Fellow opposition leader Arthur Mutambara, head of the smaller MDC faction, said "I have no option but to follow these two men who have failed to agree. I saw partisanship and bankrupt ambition disrupting the discourse,"

Where is Zimbabwe getting to?

These talks are important for Zimbabwe. Upon the signing of the power sharing deal on September 15, many international aid organisations, investors and governments pledged to support a unity government in Zimbabwe as a solution to the dire economic hardships caused by hyper inflation of 231 million percent, economic sanctions and general misrule by Mugabe.

All these donors, governments and investors can not assist Zimbabwe until the implementation of the deal is satisfactory. The delay in finalising the talks is not helping Zimbabwe. The delay is evidence of personal not national interests. Both parties blame each other but whatever the case, Zimbabwean need an agreement. This is why it is important for Mugabe at this stage to understand and accept that he has to share power with the opposition.

Zimbabwe can not afford another month of talks about talks when people are dying. It was and still remains important for Mugabe to ensure that Tsvangirai has the relevant travel documents inorder to facilitate the conclusion of these talks without further pain to the people. The patience of the people can not be stretched beyond this point. It has to be seen if SADC will convince Mugabe and break this impasse.