President Thabo Mbeki’s facilitation of political dialogue in Zimbabwe will succeed only if its people show they are serious about finding solutions to that country’s crisis, Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said on Tuesday.
“The success of President Mbeki’s facilitation largely depends on the political will of the Zimbabwean government and opposition political parties to take Zimbabwe out of this crisis,” she said in her budget-vote debate in the National Assembly.
Mbeki has been mandated by the Southern African Development Community to facilitate dialogue between Zimbabwe’s government and opposition.
However, the Inkatha Freedom Party’s Ben Skosana told MPs in the House that Mbeki is doomed to fail as long as other parties — such as ordinary Zimbabweans, churches and the country’s business community — are excluded.
Joe Seremane of the Democratic Alliance said the South African government’s lack of condemnation of the situation in Zimbabwe is regrettable.
“Daily, thousands of Zimbabweans illegally enter South Africa in search of money and food to keep their families alive. The Department of Foreign Affairs should make it clear that they would not support a government that does this to its citizens,” he said.
Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Mulder said that last Friday Zimbabwe had extended a ban on political protests in Harare, and on Saturday police raided the opposition Movement for Democratic Change head office and detained more than 200 people.
“Why? Is the country at war? No. A very simple reason. The president of that country feels threatened that he might lose his position in the next election.
“Because the minister [of foreign affairs] and the department have not yet reacted to the Zimbabwe ban and raid, must I conclude that they approve of it?” Mulder asked.
United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa urged the government to be more open about progress made in Zimbabwe.
“While we appreciate that there is a reported blackout on the media by all the players involved in these negotiations, we nonetheless call on the South African government — as leader of this process — to release periodic interim reports on the progress of these talks.
“We need this so that such a report can be matched with the daily reported realities in that country. It would avoid the possibility of any of the players involved undermining the process in their daily activities and would assist South Africa in assessing its own efforts in leading this process,” he said.