A Zimbabwean MP dismissed on Tuesday assertions that talks between the ruling Zanu-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) were taking place.
“There is absolutely nothing taking place. I can give you that at first hand,” said Roy Bennett, a farmer and senior MDC official.
“What is seriously needed for the issue of Zimbabwe to move forward is a facilitator,” he said, adding that he would know if talks occurred as he is one of the advisers of MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
Bennett said such a facilitator could be a respectable person like former Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda or anybody of that ilk.
“There is such polarity between the ruling party and the MDC that unless there is a facilitator you are never going to get the two together.”
He said it was totally unacceptable for South African President Thabo Mbeki to state that talks between the two political parties in Zimbabwe were taking place when in fact they were not.
“We need our neighbouring states to be in solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe.
“South Africa must take a leading role for the SADC [Southern African Development Community] region to condemn what is happening in Zimbabwe.
“It is amazing that African states remain silent and watch the destruction in Zimbabwe. They know what is happening,” he said.
South Africa and Mozambique are among the SADC countries that benefit from the ruin in Zimbabwe, Bennett told reporters in Johannesburg.
“Whatever President Thabo Mbeki’s agenda is in Zimbabwe, I hope to dear God it is in solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe,” he said.
Bennett owns a farm in the Chimanimani district in Zimbabwe, on which 350 families live.
He bought the farm in 1993, but has since been told he risks his life unless he gives up his political career.
Mbeki repeatedly said plans to get the two Zimbabwean parties to start formal talks were completed and what was left now was for them to meet.
Mbeki visited Zimbabwe in December last year and held meetings with Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe.
He said shortly after the meeting that the two political parties had agreed to start formal negotiations aimed ending almost two years of mayhem in that country.
Bennett said Mbeki’s quiet engagement with Mugabe has not borne results.
“The quiet diplomacy of President Thabo Mbeki is nothing but shameful,” he said. — Sapa
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