Johannesburg | Monday
SOUTH African President Thabo Mbeki has stepped up criticism of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, saying his counterpart could no longer expect protection while the political crisis there deepens, a newspaper reported Sunday.
“He wants Mugabe to know that he should not expect protection any more. Up to now we have rallied behind him,” a senior South African official told The Sunday Times, requesting anonymity.
Mbeki also urged Malawi’s President Bakili Muluzi, the chairman of the Southern African Development Community, to convene a special task team on Zimbabwe, the paper said.
Another unnamed official said Mbeki’s patience was “wearing thin” because Zimbabwe’s crisis was hampering efforts to launching an economic revival plan for Africa.
The paper said Mbeki was receiving reports that hundreds of refugees were streaming across the border every day.
Mbeki publicly slammed Mugabe twice this week, accusing his government of pursuing wrong economic policies that had aggravated the country’s political crisis and had ripple effects throughout the entire region.
The South African head of state also voiced concerns for journalists in Zimbabwe — who are increasingly targeted in a government clampdown — and for the prospect of fair elections next year.
Mbeki has in the past come under fire for his reluctance to criticize his neighbour, in particular regarding Harare’s controversial land reforms which aim to redress colonial-era land imbalances. The reforms have been accompanied by violence and lawlessness on white-owned farms by government-sponsored militants.
But regional concern has heightened recently over Zimbabwe’s critical food shortages, skyrocketing inflation and unemployment, and its unabashed campaign against the independent press and judiciary.
Mbeki also raised concerns over Harare’s refusal to allow the European Union to deploy observers during next year’s presidential elections, and raised the spectre of civil conflict if the poll was not seen to be legitimate.
“If the outcome is not accepted by the people of Zimbabwe, the situation will be even worse and you have the danger of civil conflict,” Mbeki said.
Presidential representative Bheki Khumalo reiterated the stance in The Sunday Times.
“If the elections are not legitimate, the situation will be far worse than it is now. The president therefore wants to double the efforts to seek a resolution to the crisis,” Khumalo said.
Meanwhile, the main Zimbabwean opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), has called on all Zimbabwean citizens living in South Africa to register for the forthcoming presidential election, SABC television reported on Sunday.
Hundreds of Zimbabwean nationals turned out to welcome Gibson Sibanda, deputy president of the MDC in Johannesburg on Sunday.
In his main address, Sibanda accused Mugabe and the ruling Zanu (PF) of unleashing violence, and of waging a propaganda war, against opposition members.
He said the MDC is ready to remove President Robert Mugabe from office and to start re-building the economy. – AFP