South Africa was not giving up on its strife-torn northern neighbour Zimbabwe, the presidency said on Tuesday.
”The question of cutting diplomatic ties has not even arisen,” presidential representative Bheki Khumalo said.
”It is not an issue being considered by the president. We cannot turn our backs on Zimbabwe,” he said.
The European Union has reportedly called on Southern African Development Community (SADC) governments to refrain from ”normal diplomatic relations with the Mugabe regime”.
The European Parliament also recommended tougher sanctions against Zimbabwe, while the Commonwealth’s democracy watchdog, the Ministerial Action Group, decided to put Zimbabwe on its priority list.
This follows the ruling Zanu-PF pulling out of scheduled unitary talks with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) last week.
Envoys from South Africa and Nigeria, acting as facilitators, instead held separate talks with the two parties in a bid to bring them together.
Zanu-PF pulled out of the talks citing a pending court case brought by the MDC in a bid to nullify the results of the March presidential elections — won by President Robert Mugabe.
It asked that the dialogue be postponed indefinitely, saying it did not wish to engage in any parallel processes in the meantime.
The MDC, however, contended that Zanu-PF’s conduct amounted to a unilateral withdrawal from the talks, and said the process should be regarded as terminated, not adjourned, according to a statement from the South African Department of Foreign Affairs.
Should the facilitators and their principals — Mbeki and Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo — wish to reinstate the process, it would be under a fresh mandate, the opposition argued.
Khumalo said South Africa’s envoy, African National Congress general secretary Kgalema Motlanthe, would continue to engage both parties.
”There is no alternative to negotiations in Zimbabwe,” he said. ”There is no alternative to Zanu-PF and the MDC working together.
”We will not give up on Zimbabwe. We will keep on talking and talking until we succeed, even if this takes very long.” – Sapa-AFP