Zuma rubbishes Mugabe threats

By Xolisani Ncube

HARARE – South African President Jacob Zuma’s facilitation team has trashed threats by President Robert Mugabe to ditch them as Sadc-appointed mediators to Zimbabwe’s political crisis.

In comments signalling Mugabe’s frustration with Zuma’s insistence on democratic reforms in Zimbabwe before an election is held, Mugabe said he would not hesitate to ask for the removal of the South African team.

But the South Africans were adamant yesterday that Mugabe’s comments remained just threats because only regional Sadc leaders had the power to change facilitators to Zimbabwe’s power-sharing talks.

Zuma’s special advisor on international relations, Lindiwe Zulu, who was singled out by Mugabe for attack, yesterday remained defiant and described Mugabe’s comments as out of procedure. She told the Daily News in a telephone interview that her boss would resist being diverted from his mandate by Mugabe’s remarks because only Sadc could effect the changes.

“We have said it and we will continue to say it over and over again. We will not be drawn into discussing public comments made by individuals who would have not taken a proper procedure.

“I am not speaking on my behalf, but on behalf of the facilitator (Zuma) and his team. We were mandated by Sadc and we report to Sadc. Our aim is to see the political crisis in Zimbabwe coming to an end,” said Zulu.

“We have said it to all principals (to Zimbabwe’s coalition government) that if they have any problems with us, they should follow proper procedures to register them so we will abide by that,” Zulu said.

Mugabe told state media in an interview last week his party could dump the Sadc-appointed facilitation team if it continued to be critical of his party’s action, taking particular aim at Zulu. Mugabe claimed Zuma was in the facilitator’s role in his individual capacity and not representing South Africa.

“Saka Zuma tinokwanisa kumuramba masikati machena, (So we can reject Zuma in broad day light). Takatomuudza izvozvo tikati aiwa (We have told him that) we are not forced to, but we don’t want to do that. Tinoda kunzwanana (We want to reach an understanding),” Mugabe was quoted as saying.

Mugabe’s comments come at a time the Sadc facilitator has demanded full implementation of the power-sharing Global Political Agreement (GPA) before polls are held. Mugabe and his Zanu PF party say elections should be held this year, with or without reforms that include a new constitution.

Zuma says the country cannot hold elections before a clear roadmap is in place. But with Mugabe’s hardening stance, a showdown could be on the cards as Zuma prepares to visit Harare. Zuma took over the facilitator’s role from Thabo Mbeki in 2009 after his election as South African president in 2009.

Mbeki mediated in Zimbabwe’s long political squabbles that resulted in the formation of the coalition government in February 2009. Zulu said Zuma was not self-appointed. “We were tasked by Sadc as South Africa. It is not Zuma’s baby but South African through Sadc’s instruction,” she added.

Zuma has received widespread criticism from Zanu PF as he has demanded that electoral reforms be in place before polls are held. But he has received support from regional leaders, with Sadc chairman Jose Eduardo Dos Santos saying last year Zuma will remain Zimbabwe’s mediator until democratic elections are held.

South Africa is particularly keen on credible elections and smooth transfer of power in Zimbabwe because it has previously suffered a mass flow of Zimbabweans into its borders following election-related instability. Zuma’s deputy Kgalema Motlanthe has previously said his country would do all it can to ensure Zimbabwe does not remain a regional flash point.

“The conception is that these elections would be a watershed like the 1980 elections that happened when the old Rhodesia became Zimbabwe.  There would be a need for an international presence of the same scale, to ensure a bridge with the past,” he told his country’s parliament last year.

“The next elections are viewed by all parties as watershed elections, and therefore they have to prepare for them thoroughly to ensure that there will not be any more violence, intimidation during the course of the election campaign.”

“It is the will of the Zimbabwean people which must determine the future of Zimbabwe as a country, and it is in our interest as a country that indeed we proceed in that direction. Because if we fail and Zimbabwe implodes, literally the border between Zimbabwe will disappear and we will sit with all the problems. We already know. We’ve had a taste,” he said. Daily News