Despite casting aspersions on the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) this week, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe conceded the need to engage his arch-rivals in a bid to find a negotiated settlement to the current crisis.
Although Mugabe told state television that his ruling Zanu-PF would find it difficult to negotiate with the opposition party because, he said, it was still connected to Britain by an umbilical cord, he left the door open to talks with his opponents.
“As long as they are dictated [to] from abroad we find it extremely difficult to negotiate with them, but having said that, we stand to hear what views they have,” Mugabe said.
“We are prepared to discuss with them how their ideas and our own ideas can merge for the benefit of our society. We are not just saying we can’t discuss with that party; all we have said is that that umbilical cord must be severed.”
Mugabe has been sounding less militant in his pronouncements on the MDC since South African President Thabo Mbeki and others intervened last year to coax him towards the negotiating table. But his customary populist rhetoric has not been altogether extinguished.
In what appeared like an angry reaction to the European Union’s renewal of sanctions against his regime last week, Mugabe showed some of the old fire that has characterised his dealings with political challengers.
“We can’t discuss with allies of Western countries that would want to destroy our economy. The devil is the devil. We have no idea of supping with the devil,” he said, referring to Britain.
He demanded the MDC should “think as Zimbabweans, as Africans” before he could engage in dialogue with them.
But this was mostly playing to the gallery. He has to justify to his own following any negotiations he may now be unable to avoid.
In informal talks between the two sides last year, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa and MDC secretary-general Welshman Ncube are believed to have found common ground in areas of constitutional reform.
While Mugabe does not really want talks with the MDC, he nevertheless understands that there is no way out of the current political and economic quagmire except through a negotiated settlement. With regional opinion pushing the talks agenda, his most recent vitriol may reflect the frustration of a leader whose options are diminishing by the day.
Meanwhile, Jean-Jacques Cornish reports that it is not only Zanu-PF whose rhetoric seems to have been toned down.
While the MDC continues to hope for a change in the policy of so-called quiet diplomacy from Pretoria, it appears to have changed tack from lambasting the South African government for it.
Instead, MDC spokesperson Paul Themba Nyathi has urged the South African government to weigh every word it says about its troubled neighbour so as not to appear to be supporting Mugabe’s increasingly undemocratic government.
The new line was presented this week in South Africa, where Nyathi was leading a five-person delegation, which includes MDC vice-president Gibson Sibanda.
“We make an appeal to the South African government … with regards [to] public statements. They should not in any way be conceived by Zanu-PF as supporting its position because that makes seeking a solution that much more difficult.
“As long as Zanu-PF labours under the misconception that it has the unswerving support of South Africa, it will hamper chances of seeking a settlement.”
Nyathi said the purpose of the visit was “to familiarise the people of South Africa with events in Zimbabwe, the suffering of our people and the recovery programme the MDC is proposing.
“We will be briefing a number of political figures — mostly from the ANC — of this. For some reason they prefer not to be named, so we will see them and leave it to them to announce it afterwards.”
Last month Mbeki insisted unequivocally that the Zimbabwe government and the MDC had agreed to hold substantive talks and that these had only been delayed because of the Christmas and New Year holidays.
Mbeki’s spokesperson Bheki Khumalo would not comment directly on Mugabe’s latest contradiction of his president. He merely reiterated the line that a settlement in Zimbabwe could only be attained by the Zimbabweans themselves.
Commenting on this latest slap in the face for Mbeki from Mugabe, Nyathi said: “President Mbeki continues to invest a lot of faith and confidence in Mugabe, who is given to irresponsible pronouncements and irresponsible behaviour.
“It must become clear to Mbeki that he is dealing with a man who has no scruples — with a man who is prepared to destroy his own country.
“President Mbeki has done everything conceivable to see that Mugabe does the right thing and that is to seek a settlement.
“Mugabe is clearly not doing that. It is therefore up to President Mbeki to change tactics. We cannot prescribe to him the appropriate strategy to adopt toward Zimbabwe. He must decide this himself.”