President Robert Mugabe on Friday stressed Zimbabwe’s solidarity with South Africa, defying reports of mounting pressure on the South African government to take a hardline stance towards its crisis-ridden northern neighbour.
Speaking at a rally in northern Zimbabwe, Mugabe said his country is ”pleased to continue our solidarity and comradeship” with South Africa.
”We thank all our (Southern African Development Community) SADC partners and there are 14 of us in SADC who support us on all fronts, especially South Africa which has stood with us for all this time,” Mugabe said. State television showed him talking to thousands of party supporters.
”South Africa is part of us and we share ideas with President Thabo Mbeki almost on a weekly basis,” the longtime Zimbabwean leader told reporters after the rally.
Mugabe’s remarks come amid reports of mounting local and international pressure on Mbeki’s government to take a tougher stance against Zimbabwe, especially its recently-launched campaign of shack demolitions that human rights groups say has left at least 300 000 people homeless in the middle of the southern African winter.
Mbeki has been criticised for years for failing to speak out against Mugabe’s alleged human rights violations. A visit to Mugabe in recent days by South African Vice President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka triggered expectations by Zimbabwe’s opposition that South Africa would pursue new strategies.
Since the launch of Operation Restore Order two months ago, riot police have swept through Zimbabwe’s towns and cities demolishing shacks, backyard cottages and houses.
Mugabe on Thursday said the programme has been misunderstood, and should be seen as a ”reconstruction” programme that should cause the homeless to feel ”joy” because they will ultimately see legal homes built, possibly as early as 2010.
Zimbabwe’s opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai says the demolitions are an attack on his party’s supporters. Earlier this week, Tsvangirai claimed that South Africa’s Mbeki had assured him he would abandon quiet diplomacy and find ”new strategies” to solve Zimbabwe’s deep-seated social, economic and political problems.
South Africa is seen as key to brokering possible talks to heal the political rift between Mugabe’s ruling Zimbabwe African National Union –Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) — and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by Tsvangirai.
The MDC is challenging more than a dozen results of March parliamentary elections. The opposition claims it was the third election in five years to be stolen by Mugabe.
But Mugabe, who accuses the MDC of being a puppet party of former colonial power Britain, was adamant Friday that inter-party talks are far from imminent.
”There is nothing you can do to them (the MDC) unless they disengage themselves from Britain,” he said.
Zimbabwe is critically short of foreign currency, fuel and power as a result of failed government policies. This year it will need to import 1,8-million tonnes of the staple maize to make up for failed harvests, blamed largely on the dismantling of white-owned large scale farms which have been occupied by landless Africans. – Sapa-dpa