Disoriented Mugabe called Zuma, Mandela

By Dumisani Muleya

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe got a rude awakening during the extraordinary Southern African Development Community (Sadc) summit in Johannesburg after his angry protests about the damning Livingstone resolutions were rejected by regional leaders determined to call his bluff.

Unimpeachable information exclusively obtained by the Zimbabwe Independent during the summit at Sandton, Johannesburg, last weekend shows there were low-intensity confrontational scenes during the meeting which lasted about three hours.

The meeting, characterised by measured encounters contained to avoid stormy outbursts, started at 6.23pm and ended at 9.30pm on Sunday, June 12, at the Sandton Convention Centre in the heart of South Africa’s financial capital.

Highlights of the meeting were South African facilitator President Jacob Zuma’s report on Zimbabwe, debate on the Sadc troika Livingstone resolutions of March 31, Mugabe’s charged presentation, Global Political Agreement (GPA) issues including political violence and intimidation, and the report on sanctions.

Fearing a possible outbreak of clashes and unable to stand the pre-summit heat around the Zimbabwe issue, some Sadc leaders did not attend the session. They sent representatives with mandates to support Zuma and the Sadc position.

Although Sadc leaders kept themselves restrained, Zuma’s presentation and Mugabe’s comments ensured the atmosphere remained charged. The situation was made worse by the dispute over the Livingstone communiqué.

Comments during the meeting  by Sadc chairman, Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba, Sadc executive secretary Tomaz Salomao, Zuma, Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, MDC-N and Industry and Trade minister Welshman Ncube, Swazi King Mswati, Zambian vice-president and Justice minister George Kunda, Botswana vice-president Mompati Merafhe, Namibian diplomat  Tuliameni Kalomoh, Lesotho Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili, Seychelles vice-president Danny Faure and Mauritian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade Arvin Boolell kept the debate on Zimbabwe vibrant.

As pressure mounted on Mugabe, the aging Zimbabwe ruler who denies being old and being embattled by health failures, dropped an unprecedented diplomatic gaffe when he called Zuma Mandela, much to the dismay of Sadc leaders. Clearly disoriented by the situation, Mugabe referred to Zuma as Mandela before he was corrected by his counterparts. As if that was not enough, Mugabe is said to have said “oh ok Zuma” before making another blunder when he said “may Mandela’s soul rest in peace”.

Mugabe, a bitter rival of the former South African president and decorated statesmen Nelson Mandela, is said to have immediately corrected himself as his increasing slip-ups which suggested loss of memory or confusion due to pressure became embarrassing, saying “I hope he is in good health”.

Details show that Pohamba opened the meeting on Zimbabwe with the usual salutations before asking Salomao to refresh the memories of leaders on the discussions so far since the meeting was also tackling the Madagascar situation. Zimbabwe’s political and security situation was, however, the main issue on the agenda of the Sadc summit.

After Salomao’s remarks, Pohamba set the ball rolling saying Zimbabwe could not be discussed at the recent Sadc summit in Windhoek because Zuma was not there. Zuma then took over. He started by apologising for his absence in Namibia due to municipal elections in South Africa.

Zuma said his report was a follow-up to the one he compiled prior to Livingstone. The report is published in full on Page 5 of this edition of the Independent. 

“My report is a follow up to the Annexure 5 (Livingstone report),” Zuma said. “Two matters were raised in the troika report. The first issue was the implementation of the GPA and lack of progress.

“The second was polarisation which had given rise to a resurgence of political violence, arrests and intimidation. However, there have been positive developments since the troika summit. We hope the situation would continue to improve and solutions would be found to take the country forward. I attach here the GPA review report which covers the constitution-making process and other issues. This extraordinary summit should know that these annexes are part of our report. The GPA is work in progress.”

Information to hand shows Zuma went on to say negotiations had been going on exhaustively although there was no progress before the Livingstone summit. He said after that there was tremendous progress as shown by the adoption of the roadmap by negotiators and facilitators on June 2. The roadmap was distributed to Sadc leaders.

Zuma went on to deal with GPA review and the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (Jomic) reports. Zuma said: “Jomic has worked hard to monitor problems and complaints some of which were false and others embellished.” He said Jomic was also dealing with concerns of the Livingstone summit which included “violence, intimidation and hate speech, among others” although “it has no money”. He said the National Security Council is supposed to help Jomic, while principals should meet state security service chiefs and the attorney-general to discuss the role of the police, army and intelligence in electoral politics.

Zuma then went on to refer to the Livingstone recommendation of seconding three Sadc officials to work with facilitators and Jomic and said although the roadmap was now there it had no timeframes.

Zuma ended by making recommendations which included that Sadc should assist Zimbabwe to hold free and fair elections, the Sadc troika of the organ on politics, defence and security should appoint the three officials seconded to Zimbabwe, Sadc should raise money for Jomic and that Sadc must ensure conditions for free and fair election are created.

“Negotiators should as a matter of urgency complete the roadmap,” Zuma said. While Zuma was addressing the leaders, Mugabe was said to have been visibly uncomfortable. After Zuma, Pohamba gave Mugabe the floor and the fight began in earnest.

“May I compliment our facilitator for the report given verbally. We would want it in writing. This is different from Livingstone where we didn’t see the report. We were not happy with what happened. I have spoken to Mandela, sorry Zuma, about it. We would want to rebut some allegations,” Mugabe said.

“However, we hope that report does not become a record of our performance in the GPA or a record of my party which is reflected as an offender. If we were that bad we couldn’t suddenly have done all these good things reported now. It shows that there is not sufficient vision or proper comprehension of the situation. The Livingstone report is unfair.”

Mugabe then went on complaining about Livingstone, saying the parties had been working hard to create a peaceful environment for free and fair elections. He said there was now reinvigorated negotiations although there was no money for the constitution-making process.

Going back to the Livingstone report and launching a new tirade, Mugabe said:

“I hope this supplementary report erases the ugly features of Livingstone. I want to thank the facilitator for a more accurate report. Here and there you get violence in Zimbabwe, particularly inside political parties when they are going to congresses.”

Mugabe claimed political violence in Zimbabwe was not that bad to “mar” the “peaceful environment” in the country. “Even outside politics you get violence,” he said.

Mugabe then digressed to launch further attacks on “imperialists” and talk about Africa’s natural resources, including oil and diamonds. He complained about sanctions at length, saying former British premier Margaret Thatcher had sold him Hawk military aircraft which have been grounded by sanctions.

After Mugabe spoke, Zuma told him he must know that he does not “manufacture or invent reports” on Zimbabwe – they were informed by what was happening on the ground. Zuma also said he was surprised why Mugabe had not seen his Livingstone report. Salomao confronted Mugabe and told him he had sent the report to him and thus he should stop giving Sadc a wrong impression on that. Zuma insisted he would continue to report the situation in Zimbabwe as he saw it.

Pohamba intervened and gave Tsvangirai the chance to speak. He was brief and said he hoped the disputed and grey areas of the roadmap, including timelines, and outstanding issues would be addressed before free and fair elections could be held.

Ncube then joined in and was hard-hitting. He said the roadmap had not been discussed by leaders of political parties. He also said the GPA was silent on its lifespan and the timing of elections. Ncube said the GPA only spoke about a review after two years and that was why this review had just been done.

“If you read that review report you will see that we are still a long way. The roadmap covers this deficit area and if we follow that then we can arrive in an uncontested area,” he said. He said like Tsvangirai indicated areas of dispute in the roadmap must be resolved and timelines fixed. Ncube said there was no mechanism in Jomic for implementation and negotiators should create that.  

“As far as the roadmap is concerned it needs to address the question of violence and intimidation because that is pervasive. Our negotiators should discuss the mechanisms against violence,” Ncube said.

After that Mswati, Kunda, Merafhe, Kalomo, Mosisili, Faure and Boolell also spoke. Merafhe said some Sadc leaders like himself were now consumed by “fatigue” over Zimbabwe which has kept the region in a “crisis mode”. He said the situation was making people sick and tired. Zimbabwe Independent