Zimbabwe’s state press on Tuesday stoked the diplomatic row over Zimbabwean Information Minister Jonathan Moyo with a warning to the South African government that a formal protest over his alleged slur against South African President Thabo Mbeki had set ”a dangerous precedent”.
The state-controlled daily Herald said it was ”unfortunate” that the South African foreign ministry had been ”sucked in” to ”kick Zimbabwe in the butt” in a furore over revelations in the Johannesburg Sunday Times last week of Moyo’s recent shopping trip to South Africa, and his subsequent invective-laden reaction.
The newspaper revealed that Moyo filled three luxury vehicles and a trailer with food and electronic goods to take home when half of Zimbabwe’s population of 14 million faces starvation.
The Zimbabwe government had to issue a public reassurance to South Africa that Moyo, when he used the expression ”dirty, filthy and recklessly uncouth” in his attack, was referring not to Mbeki or South Africans in general, but to the South African ”apartheid” press.
The South African official protest quoted another reported
remark from Moyo: ”If these people, in the name of South Africa, believe they can lead an African Renaissance, then god help them”.
Zimbabwe claimed Moyo had directed his comments at the South African press, and not at Mbeki.
However, Tuesday’s Herald accused the South African government of backing ”the view that government business is transacted through newspapers.
”It is indeed a dangerous precedent for governments to start holding each other accountable for views published by the media, instead of relying on the official diplomatic channels.”
It said that senior South African officials — including central bank governor Tito Mboweni and Defence Minister Patrick Lekota — had previously made ”scurrilous allegations at no lesser a person than President Mugabe,” but the Zimbabwe government had never protested.
”Does this make Zimbabwe a lesser sovereign state than its
brotherly neighbour?” asked the Herald. ”We think not,” it asserted.
The incident is the latest in a series of clashes between Moyo and the South African government in recent years, and occurred as Mbeki’s government has embarked on a policy of ”quiet diplomacy” with Mugabe’s regime in an attempt to end the country’s crisis and rescue it from international isolation. – Sapa-DPA