South African and Nigerian envoys were holding separate talks on Monday with officials of Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the Foreign Affairs Department said.
This follows Zanu-PF’s decision to pull out of scheduled mediated discussions with the MDC.
Kgalema Motlanthe, general secretary of the African National Congress (ANC), left for Harare on Monday morning, while a Nigerian envoy arrived on Sunday, the department said.
They were holding separate discussions with Zanu-PF and the MDC in a bid to resolve the political impasse in Zimbabwe and bring the parties together for talks about a government of national unity.
The department said it was not aware of speculation that South Africa and Zimbabwe appeared to be on a collision course following the ruling party’s decision to pull out of the talks.
The Business Day newspaper on Monday quoted Zimbabwean Information Minister Jonathan Moyo as saying the talks were postponed on the grounds of 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 in dubious circumstances.
Motlanthe reportedly insisted that the talks would continue, saying he had received no word of any changes.
Neither Motlanthe nor Moyo could be reached for comment on Monday, and the Foreign Affairs Department said there was no news on how the separate talks were proceeding. ? Sapa