South Africa’s Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has denied a deterioration in ties with Zimbabwe during a visit to the country in the wake of a diplomatic row, Zimbabwe’s state press said on Thursday.
”I think our relations are good,” Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma was quoted as saying in the pro-government daily The Herald, during a two-day visit which began on Wednesday.
Dlamini-Zuma had two hours of talks Wednesday with President Robert Mugabe and also held discussions with Zimbabwe’s Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge.
Last week, diplomatic ties between the southern African neighbours seemed severely strained when Zimbabwe’s Information Minister Jonathan Moyo accused South African journalists of being ”filthy and recklessly uncouth”.
Moyo also questioned South Africa’s ability to lead an ”African Renaissance”, according to a report in The Herald at the time.
These comments followed a report by the Johannesburg-based Sunday Times newspapers, showing pictures of Moyo on a shopping spree in the South African city.
The report showed Moyo and his family stocking up on foodstuffs, while in Zimbabwe up to eight million out of a total population of 11,6 million were threatened by famine.
The Pretoria government responded to Moyo’s comments with a formal demarche to Harare on January 14 demanding an explanation, South African press reports said.
Short of cutting diplomatic ties, a demarche is the strongest sanction countries can exercise against another.
Dlamini-Zuma’s visit to Zimbabwe comes ahead of talks next week between South African President Thabo Mbeki and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, when Zimbabwe is likely to figure high on the agenda.
In March, a Commonwealth troika involving the leaders of Australia and Nigeria as well as South Africa is to decide whether to lift Zimbabwe’s suspension from the Commonwealth.
Zimbabwe was suspended from the 54-nation body’s Council of Ministers after a Commonwealth observer group said in March last year that Zimbabwe’s presidential elections were not free or fair.
Earlier this week, Nigeria’s Foreign Minister Sule Lamido visited Zimbabwe with a message of solidarity for Mugabe and promised that President Olusegun Obasanjo will visit Zimbabwe next month.
He also warned Australia not to be used by Britain and its allies to isolate Zimbabwe at the March troika meeting. – Sapa-AFP