The South African Presidency on Friday rejected as untrue reports that the government had been secretly working to remove Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe from power.
The Presidency said in a statement it wished to ”caution the media from falling victim of those who, for purposes of advancing political agendas which may be opposed to the resolution of the situation in Zimbabwe, peddle untruths which may impact negatively on the ongoing process of dialogue”.
The statement said the latest report by the newspaper the Zimbabwean, published in London and Johannesburg, claimed to be privy to minutes that suggested that the South African government blamed Mugabe for the situation in Zimbabwe.
The report claimed that the ”South African government has been secretly working to remove [President Mugabe] from power”.
It further claimed that ”the South African officials have been lobbying for sustained international pressure to bear on the Mugabe regime”.
These claims by the Zimbabwean were devoid of truth, the Presidency said.
Addressing Parliament a fortnight ago, President Thabo Mbeki categorically stated that the South African government had never, did not, nor would support ”regime change” in Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwean completely ignored this publicly stated position of government, the statement said.
It also did not make contact with the Presidency or the Department of Foreign Affairs to verify the authenticity of minutes it claimed to have in its possession.
Worrisome
Earlier this week, a senior Zambian official said that a controversial document criticising Britain over the crisis in Zimbabwe, which was leaked at a Southern African regional summit last month, came from Harare, not South Africa.
The briefing paper on talks between Mugabe’s government and the Zimbabwean opposition circulated among diplomats ahead of a summit in Lusaka of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in mid-August.
Reuters news agency and some newspapers reported — after being briefed by officials and diplomats in Lusaka — that the document came from South Africa and was to be presented to the summit by President Thabo Mbeki, who is mediating in the crisis.
Media reports said South Africa blamed Britain for the deepening crisis in Zimbabwe by accusing Britain of leading a campaign to ”strangle” the beleaguered African state’s economy and saying it had a ”death wish” against a negotiated settlement that might leave President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF in power.
”The most worrisome thing is that the United Kingdom continues to deny its role as the principal protagonist in the Zimbabwean issue and is persisting with its activities to isolate Zimbabwe,” the report said. ”None of the Western countries that have imposed the sanctions that are strangling Zimbabwe’s economy have shown any willingness to lift them.”
South Africa denied it had produced the document, which blamed former colonial power Britain for Harare’s isolation by the West and said London was trying to destroy dialogue between Mugabe’s government and the opposition.
But it also said the Zimbabwean government was nearing a deal with the opposition following Mbeki’s mediation. — Sapa-, Reuters