South Africa has approached the government of Zimbabwe regarding the right to peaceful demonstrations in that country, according to President Thabo Mbeki.
Replying to questions in the National Assembly, he said Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma had been in contact with her Zimbabwean counterpart regarding renewed political violence.
”We are dealing with that question with the Zimbabwean government.
”Indeed, we have said to the Zimbabwean government that we would not agree with actions that deny the right of Zimbabweans to protest peacefully, democratically and so on.”
Dlamini-Zuma said at a media breakfast earlier in the day that South Africa had expressed its concern to Zimbabwe’s government over continuing reports of alleged state-sponsored human rights violations.
She said allegations of, among other things, beatings and torture of opposition supporters, was a matter of concern. However, South Africa was not aware of any ”systematic violation of human rights on a massive scale” in Zimbabwe, and its high commission had also not reported any such action, the minister said.
Mbeki told MPs that South Africa’s High Commissioner in Zimbabwe had been instructed to look into the allegations, and that the governments of some developed countries had requested South Africa look into the matter.
”We will deal with it in a manner that seeks to produce results, we are not going to deal with it in a manner that makes good headlines and doesn’t produce results,” he said.
President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF government has reportedly embarked on what observers say is a ruthless clampdown in reaction to a two-day stayaway called by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) last week.
Mugabe said in a speech last Friday he could be a ”black Hitler ten-fold” in crushing his opponents. More than 500 MDC supporters have reportedly been arrested and
hundreds hospitalised since the stayaway.
Mbeki said he welcomed a recent call by MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai for a resumption of negotiations with Zanu-PF on an inclusive government. The talks — initiated by Mbeki and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo — broke down when the MDC announced they would challenge Mugabe’s re-election in court.
”The issue of an inclusive government was on the agenda that was agreed by Zanu-PF and MDC; that was one of the matters they were going to address in the negotiations, which ended when the MDC decided to resolve these matters by going to court.”
Another issue that was on the agenda was the question of new elections in that country.
”(The agenda) includes all matters that have been raised, including new elections,” he said. Mbeki said South Africa would continue to engage with Mugabe’s government to help address that country’s problems.
This included issues such as the dispossession of land from white farmers, the rights of displaced farms workers, various laws that were said to violate human rights, and the behaviour of war veterans, he said. – Sapa