The angry response of Minister of Foreign Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to the Mail & Guardian‘s report on the African Union summit last week gave a signal that the South African government is hardening its stance on Zimbabwe.
Zuma denied supporting Zimbabwe’s move to stifle a report by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights critical of that country’s human rights record.
However, sources who attended the meeting of foreign ministers insisted that Dlamini-Zuma had supported Zimbabwe’s call for the report not to be tabled at the AU’s heads of state summit on ”technical grounds”. These were that the report had not been seen by the Zimbabwean government.
The fact that she now denies supporting Zimbabwe amounts to unprecedented public censure of President Robert Mugabe’s government. Her statement emphasises her uncompromising stance in bold letters.
Zimbabwe’s Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge said at the meeting that his government needed seven days to respond to the report, which was compiled by South African academic Barney Pityana and Gambian Jainab Johm, who visited his country after the controversial 2000 parliamentary and 2002 presidential elections.
That deadline has come and gone without a word from Zimbabwe. This means they evaded discussion of the matter at the AU summit.
The statement by South Africa’s Department of Foreign Affairs said Dlamini-Zuma ”did not speak when the report was tabled, as suggested by the M&G, but to her credit, towards the conclusion of the discussion she insisted on the report being forwarded to the heads of state and government for discussions.
”When a suggestion was made that the executive council should not forward the report on procedural grounds to the heads of state and government for discussion, Minister Dlamini-Zuma objected and insisted the executive council could not pretend that it did not receive nor discuss the report.
”In this regard, Minister Dlamini-Zuma insisted the executive council forward the report to the heads of state and government with recommendations from the council.”
However, reliable sources present at the meeting of African foreign ministers gave a different account, saying Dlamini-Zuma had stepped up to the plate for Mudenge.
Senior officials close to Dlamini-Zuma told the M&G ”we are sick and tired of the Zimbabwe government embarrassing our president by leading him to believe they are engaged in talks with the opposition when in fact there is no movement.
”The Zimbabweans lie when it suits them. In forums like the AU executive council Minister Dlamini-Zuma is one of their toughest critics.
”In Addis she was the strongest critic of Zimbabwe. She received a note from one of her African counterparts thanking her for this and saying few other African countries would dare do it.
”I have sat in another meeting when she told Stan Mudenge that if his government is planning to execute the suspected South African mercenaries being held in Zimbabwe, the South African government will have something to say about it.”
If Dlamini-Zuma has been criticising Zimbabwe behind closed doors, not a scintilla of this has emerged in public. The statement attacking the M&G report is the first suggestion that all is not well.
In Addis Ababa South African officials briefed reporters about why Zimbabwe’s technical opposition to circulating the human rights report deserved support. It was this technical point that led the foreign ministers simply to note the report and suspend its publication pending Zimbabwe’s reaction, rather than adopting it.
Dlamini-Zuma was available to reporters at Addis Ababa. When the M&G asked her about the treatment of the report by the foreign ministers she said it was being treated as a technical matter. She gave no hint of the tough line she claims to have taken towards Mudenge or that she had insisted that the report be put before the heads of state.
None of the South African journalists at the summit was given any indication of a change in South Africa’s approach. In addition, sources inside the foreign ministers’ executive council said Dlamini-Zuma had gone in to bat for Mudenge.
Back home, the South African government continues to draw flak for appearing to support Mugabe. The African National Congress denied a weekend report that it was lending expertise and technical support to Zimbabwe’s ruling party, Zanu-PF, ahead of next year’s general election campaign.
Catholic Bishops’ Conference chairperson Cardinal Wilfred Napier this week called for intelligently applied sanctions against Zimbabwe, saying this measure had been effective when used against the apartheid system.
In Harare on Sunday Mugabe urged Zanu-PF youth to wage a ”vigorous campaign” in next year’s general election and warned that he would hold them answerable for any defeat.
The youth wing of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change said there was no doubt the rhetoric implied a campaign of violence by a government prepared ”to use the youth as an instrument of oppression against its opponents”.
In addition, participants in a Zimbabwe television panel discussion on HIV/Aids were instructed to remove their red Aids campaign ribbons, as red was the colour of the MDC. The government has denied the allegation.