It was up to Nigeria to decide whether or not to invite Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe to this year’s Commonwealth summit, the South African presidency said on Tuesday.
Spokesperson Bheki Khumalo said in Pretoria the presidency would engage with Nigeria to seek common ground on the matter, but accepted the host country had the final say.
”If President Mugabe does not attend the meeting, it will be because he has not been invited by the Nigerian president (Olusegun Obasanjo) — not because of the actions of Australian Prime Minister John Howard.”
Howard and Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon earlier announced Mugabe would not be invited to the summit in Abuja in December.
Howard is current chairperson of the organisation that mostly consists of former British colonies.
A Commonwealth troika — comprising Howard, Obsanjo and South African President Thabo Mbeki — suspended Zimbabwe last year from the 54-nation body’s councils for 12 months.
This was prompted by a damning Commonwealth report on the controversial Zimbabwean presidential elections that returned Mugabe to power.
When the initial 12-month period ended in March this year, the organisation announced Zimbabwe’s suspension would remain in place until December.
Mbeki and Obasanjo opposed the move, arguing that the political, economic and social climate in Zimbabwe was improving.
Khumalo said on Tuesday South Africa did not regard the extension of further sanctions against Zimbabwe as valid.
”Our view is that the Commonwealth imposed the maximum penalty on Zimbabwe by suspending it for one year in March last year.”
There was no reason for the continued exclusion of Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth, Khumalo said.
South Africa remained convinced Zimbabwe’s problems could be solved, and would continue engaging with Nigeria in this regard.
Khumalo said Australia’s chairmanship of the Commonwealth would cease once the summit got underway. The prerogative whether or not to invite Mugabe, therefore, rested with Nigeria.
Reports that South Africa intended asking Nigeria to ensure Mugabe was invited were incorrect, Khumalo said.
Nigerian presidential spokesperson Remi Oyo said on Monday that no invitation had yet been sent to Zimbabwe.
On Tuesday, the Nigerian High Commission in South Africa referred reporters to their mission in Harare — which could not be reached.
Democratic Alliance MP Graham McIntosh lauded Howard’s stance on the issue, saying it would be travesty to invite Mugabe.
”He has plunged his country into political and economic turmoil with the inflation rate at an all-time high. Mr Mugabe needs tough treatment,” McIntosh said in a statement. – Sapa