British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has dismissed claims that his government supported the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the main opposition party in Zimbabwe.
”We don’t support any particular political party in Zimbabwe… We don’t support any political party anywhere in the world,” he told guests in Cape Town.
Straw said a total of 45-million pounds (about R539-million) was available to fund land reform in Zimbabwe should a solution be found to the political and economic crisis in that country.
The British government stood by the 1980 Lancaster House agreement in which it committed itself to fund the land reform programme in Zimbabwe, he said.
Zimbabwe plunged into a political and economic crisis about five years ago when Zanu-PF youths tormented members of the MDC, claiming MDC members hindered reform in that country.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has publicly described the MDC as a puppet of western countries. Others have accused the MDC of receiving money from the British government.
Straw said more than half of Zimbabwe’s population was dependent on food aid, and the Mugabe government was denying the need for international help.
”There needs to be an environment for free and fair elections in Zimbabwe, which fully reflect the new SADC [Southern African Development Community] principles.”
He said his government welcomed South Africa’s efforts to find a solution in Zimbabwe.
”It remains important that you, and the rest of Africa, stay engaged to help the people of Zimbabwe return their country to health,” Straw said.
Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe government said it ”will not lose sleep” over a threat by the MDC to pull out of next year’s parliamentary polls if full electoral reforms are not implemented, a state-run daily said on Thursday.
”It is their democratic right not to be embarrassed and we will not lose sleep over that,” Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa was quoted as saying in The Herald newspaper.
On Wednesday the MDC said it would not take part in future ballots, including general elections due in March, unless Mugabe’s government implements a regional protocol on polls signed by Zimbabwe this month.
The opposition said it wants full reforms in line with guidelines and principles adopted at a SADC conference earlier this month.
Those guidelines provides for freedom of association, access to the media, curbs against police harrassment and opening up elections to foreign monitors.
Since the opposition party was founded in 1999 it has posed the biggest challenge to Mugabe’s ruling Zimbabwe African National Union — Patriotic Front.
However, it has failed to win parliamentary and presidential elections, blaming the losses on a skewed electoral playing field and intimidation. The government has denied these charges.
Chinamasa said that he was soon to present a draft Bill to Cabinet that would introduce electoral reforms.
”It’s not true that we are not adhering to the (SADC) guidelines,” he said, adding that ”the guidelines are not law; they are a norm-setting document.” – Sapa