The formation of a government of national unity in Zimbabwe is not necessarily the solution to that country’s political problems, a South African government official said on Monday.
Neither the ruling Zanu-PF nor the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) regards a unity government as an imperative, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad told reporters in Pretoria.
”It would be useless, us insisting on something both sides say is not fundamental,” he said, referring to reports that this was a precondition for South Africa granting its neighbour a loan.
A more pertinent consideration, Pahad said, is that money loaned have an impact on the Zimbabwean economy.
”We are negotiating in the … broad context that we need fundamental economic changes, and how do we minimise the political tensions of Zimbabwe without necessarily talking about governments of national unity.”
Pahad said there is a need for a ”real re-look” at Zimbabwe’s economic affairs. Issues that need to be examined include the independence of the central bank, exchange-rate interventions and getting agricultural productivity back on track.
A decision on a loan will take into account ”certain basic realities”, including that Zimbabwe’s expulsion from the International Monetary Fund over debt will lead to a further deterioration of the country’s political and economic situation.
”All our interventions on the Zimbabwean issue have been to prevent a failed state on our doorstep,” Pahad said.
Talks on the loan are ongoing between South African Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel, South African Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni and their Zimbabwean counterparts.
”They have not indicated anything,” Pahad said.
He did not know about claims that Zimbabwe has decided to turn down the financial help over reported strict preconditions.
There should be a report on the loan discussions ”in a short time”, the deputy minister said, since the negotiators have to inform the South African Parliament of the detail.
Pahad said the Zimbabwean issue has not been tabled as a separate agenda item for this week’s Southern African Development Community council of ministers and heads of state meetings in Botswana.
”But clearly these matters are always discussed, if not formally, then informally.”
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, re-elected in a disputed poll in 2002, has recently ruled out talks with the MDC.
The country’s economic woes were partly caused by Mugabe’s land-reform programme, which saw thousands of commercial farms seized since 2000.
Recently, the government came under criticism for an urban slum clean-up campaign estimated to have left hundreds of thousands homeless. — Sapa