Farouk Chothia
KENYAN mediator Professor Washington Okumo said this week in an interview from Maputo that he had expected international mediation to take place in the aftermath of the April election in line with an agreement between the three major political parties days before the poll.
Okumo brokered the agreement that saw the IFP enter the elections at the eleventh hour in exchange for a commitment that mediation will take place. Okumo was witness to the agreement signed by Mandela, De Klerk and Buthelezi.
“If there is to be no mediation, the three leaders have to agree jointly,” Okumo added.
Mandela expressed serious reservation about mediation last Sunday, saying there were no points of contention at this stage that could not be resolved internally.
Okumo said his “limited understanding” of last year’s agreement was that “any outstanding constitutional issue should be the subject of international mediation”.
“The mistake made was to let time lapse. The euphoria around the April election made people forget that the issue needed to be followed-up immediately,” Okumo added.
He said the pre-election agreement had “averted a major catastrophe” in South Africa. “It would be a pity if this were to return,” Okumo said.
He added that Zulu king Goodwill Zwelethini’s rejection of mediation should not stand in the way of such talks taking place. “The king was not a signatory to it and he is also not a politician,” added Okumo.
Okumo said he understood the agreement to mean that not only issues related to the king needed to be tackled in mediation, but also issues related to the powers of central government and the provinces.
Okumo said international mediation was not intended to usurp the role of the constitutional assembly.
“It was a body going to report to the three leaders and the CA had the right to reject (its proposals),” he added.
He said he would become involved in mediation only with the “blessing” of all three leaders, but has held “informal discussions” with them since the April poll.
Some political commentators argue that the IFP is bent on having international mediation as they will have more clout in such talks than in the ANC-dominated CA.
Political commentators argue that aside from fear that they may have to make concessions to the IFP in international mediation, the ANC is also opposed to foreign intervention as they believe it would infringe on South Africa’s sovereignty.
IFP sources also argue that the presence of foreign mediators would strengthen their hand for federalism.