South Africa’s decision to oppose a request for a United Nations Security Council briefing on the crisis in Zimbabwe is indefensible, said Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Tony Leon.
”[It] is another example of South Africa bending over backwards to defend [Zimbabwe President] Robert Mugabe’s increasingly tyrannical rule,” he said in a statement on Monday.
Last week, Britain’s ambassador to the UN Emyr Jones Parry had requested a ”humanitarian briefing” for the Security Council following the attack on Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
”South Africa is the current rotating president of the [Security Council] — Dumisani Khumalo, South Africa’s ambassador to the UN, opposed the request.”
He had argued the turmoil in Zimbabwe did not affect international peace and security, and therefore did not belong on the Security Council’s agenda.
Leon said this was a fundamental misreading of the extent of the crisis in Zimbabwe.
”As the situation continues to get worse on a daily basis, there is a distinct possibility that the Southern African region will be negatively affected by the fall-out from Zimbabwe’s implosion. This fallout could in all likelihood constitute a threat to international peace and security.
”South Africa, as the leading nation in the region, has a moral responsibility to tell Harare that its brutal intolerance of legitimate opposition will no longer be accepted.
”By shielding President Mugabe from international scrutiny, Pretoria has become complicit in [the] suppression of democratic freedoms in Zimbabwe.”
Leon said South Africa was rapidly developing a reputation as a defender of the world’s pariahs.
”Our tenure at the head of the [Security Council] is characterised by an indifference to human rights and temporising with tyranny. We have now all but lost much of the moral high ground we once had under President Mandela.
”Our window of opportunity is fast closing, as Britain will next month assume the [Security Council] chairpersonship. If they put Zimbabwe on the agenda when we opposed such a move, our moral high ground will be lost completely,” he said.
The Department of Foreign Affairs was not immediately available for comment. — Sapa