The South African government expressed confidence on Thursday in free and fair elections in neighbouring Zimbabwe, even as the ruling party and opposition there remained at loggerheads.
The South African Cabinet accepted a report by President Thabo Mbeki that his attempts to broker a stalemate between Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) were ”on track”.
”The report … was confident these talks will deliver an agreement that will lay the foundation for free and fair elections in Zimbabwe,” government spokesperson Themba Maseko told journalists after a fortnightly Cabinet meeting.
Southern African leaders failed last week to heed calls for strong action against the embattled Zimbabwean government, saying at the conclusion of a two-day summit in Lusaka, Zambia, the country’s problems were ”exaggerated”.
Zimbabwe is in the throes of an economic crisis with inflation past the 7 000% mark, four in five people jobless and 80% of the population living below the poverty threshold.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who got a rousing welcome to the summit, told Zambia’s state ZNBC television that sanctions were to blame for his country’s economic woes, adding things were getting better.
”It is going well, relatively,” he said.
On the sidelines of the summit, Mugabe’s Justice Minister ,Patrick Chinamasa, told journalists no political reforms were necessary in his country, while the MDC on Wednesday denounced a two-month voter-registration programme as a sham to boost Mugabe’s chances of victory in elections set down for March.
Maseko said Thursday that despite their public sparring, the Zimbabwean government and opposition remained committed to talks the SADC mandated Mbeki to facilitate.
”The president [Mbeki] did indicate that he informed the SADC heads of state that both parties were united in the resolve that the talks will proceed.
”Yes, there will be hiccups as the talks unfold, but the overall assessment … was that the talks were indeed progressing and that an agreement or a settlement will be reached soon to make sure that there will be free and fair elections in Zimbabwe,” said Maseko.
”The president, in his capacity as the facilitator of the talks, is confident that in fact progress is being made on a number of fundamental issues.”
Maseko rejected media reports that SADC heads of state were divided on how to deal with the Zimbabwean issue, and said there had been no discussion on delaying elections. — AFP
