The head of Southern African Catholics says he and other church leaders have told President Thabo Mbeki to impose sanctions against President Robert Mugabe’s government but the South African leader will not do it because he lacks the political will.
Cardinal Wilfred Napier told ZimOnline that South African church leaders and himself had met Mbeki over Zimbabwe’s deteriorating political and economic crisis on a number of occasions during which Southern Africa’s most powerful president explained his attempts to mediate a solution.
But the clergymen advised Mbeki to adopt a more robust and tougher stance against Mugabe including imposing sanctions against the Zimbabwe leader, his wife and top officials in much the same way the European Union (EU) and the United States (US) have done.
The Cardinal said: “We had a couple of meetings with President Mbeki, who explained the negotiating role he has played. We raised the point that we thought that targeted sanctions should be considered by the South African government.
“They have the intelligence services to point out the weaknesses and where they could be applied. They know what will affect Mugabe. However, Mbeki doesn’t have the political will to do this.”
The US, EU, Switzerland, Australia and New Zealand have imposed visa and financial sanctions against Mugabe and his lieutenants over their failure for allegedly stealing elections, failure to uphold human rights, rule of law and seizure of white farms without paying compensation.
Zimbabwe is grappling its worst economic crisis, worsened by Mugabe’s controversial seizure of white-owned farms for redistribution to landless black farmers which knocked down food production by 60% to leave the once food-exporting country dependent on food handouts from international aid agencies.
Inflation is above 600% and unemployment is above 80%, while fuel, electricity, essential medicines and nearly every basic commodity is in short supply.
But Mbeki, regarded by the US and its allies as the point-man on Zimbabwe, has refused to publicly condemn Mugabe or change his “quiet diplomacy” policy under which he has regularly consulted with the Harare administration behind close doors but with little movement to resolve the worsening crisis. – ZimOnline