Minister of Foreign Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma questioned on Tuesday the wisdom of ”smart sanctions” imposed on the Zimbabwean government by Western countries, particularly the European Union.
”Now tell me, if you are a business person and you hear that your country has sanctioned the President of that country [Robert Mugabe], are you going to go running there with your investments? You are not,” she said.
Dlamini-Zuma was responding to questions at the University of Cape Town where her department held an inaugural imbizo (meeting) for the exchange of views on foreign policy.
Dlamini-Zuma said although the sanctions — imposed by the United States and the EU after intimidation and violence in Zimbabwe’s general election in March — target individuals, they have a general effect on the country.
”Of course there are things also that I think Zimbabwe could have done better … But of course, these problems then became a vicious cycle because if you are isolated, you can’t get capital, you can’t get foreign currency and you are not able to pay your debts to the IMF [International Monetary Fund] and so on,” she told the audience of academics, students and politicians.
Dlamini-Zuma said South Africa’s much-maligned quiet diplomacy is the correct stance to take, and asked why, when opposing sides negotiate in pre-democracy talks in South Africa, the same is not applicable to the Zimbabweans.
”Our foreign policy is two-fold: it is predictable, it’s consistent, because it’s based on our own internal values. So, if we value negotiations in South Africa, why do we want fighting in Zimbabwe between us and the Zimbabweans?”
Dlamini-Zuma said South Africa is willing to advise and assist Zimbabwe in making the right decisions in a non-confrontational way.
”Zimbabwe is a sovereign country. We have no leverage over them. We can only negotiate, we can only talk to them … We seem to think there is a lot we can do to force Zimbabwe to go this way or that way.
”What is it we can do to force them, tell me? What is it? Nothing, except of course through negotiations,” she said.
She said all the Western countries that advocate megaphone diplomacy have achieved nothing, except to isolate them from what is happening in Zimbabwe.
Dlamini-Zuma fielded a wide array of questions from the floor, including one from Canadian student Bryant Greenbaum about South African mining companies named as ”violators” by the United Nations in their operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Greenbaum caused a minor stir when he put a brown bag over his head and stood up, demanding that Dlamini-Zuma respond to questions on Sudan and Zimbabwe and not extol the virtues of women in politics, as she was doing in response to another question.
An unflustered Dlamini-Zuma continued with her pro-women talk, chastising Greenbaum and telling him to wait his turn. — Sapa