Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad on Tuesday again rejected suggestions that economic sanctions should be imposed as a means to resolve the crisis in Zimbabwe.
Briefing the media at Parliament, he said: ”It should now be clear that those who imposed so-called smart sanctions have themselves questioned the effectiveness of such actions.”
The European Union, for example, had stated it had no intention to impose economic sanctions against Zimbabwe.
”However, more significantly, no Zimbabwean political party, none of the churches, which are playing a major role, or any other elements of civil society in Zimbabwe, have called for economic sanctions against Zimbabwe,” he said.
Asked about the effectiveness of South Africa’s policy of quiet diplomacy towards Zimbabwe, Pahad said the phrase quiet diplomacy was a misnomer.
”It’s constructive diplomacy that we’re working on,” he said.
Further, South Africa could not independently bring about a solution in Zimbabwe.
The situation demanded a collective approach, such as within the framework of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) or the African Union.
There was general agreement that only a collective approach would find solutions.
He repeated his view that if there had been a collective approach from the start, the crisis would not have progressed to this stage.
Pahad also repeated South Africa’s position that ”we will never just make militant statements simply to satisfy ourselves or governments far away”.
”Our objective is to help normalise the situation and enable us to protect ourselves from any further serious impact of what will happen if we are not able to resolve the Zimbabwe situation.
”That drives us on a constant basis.”
Regarding the SADC extraordinary meeting in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on Wednesday and Thursday — to be attended by President Thabo Mbeki — he said South Africa had not been given the full agenda, but understood it would deal with ”developing situations in the region”. — Sapa