ANC president Jacob Zuma could not have timed his visit to Britain more astutely.
For the first time in years Zimbabwe is making daily front-page news in Britain. Regular pronouncements are made on every aspect of the crisis by Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Foreign Secretary David Miliband.
Ostensibly Zuma is there to meet leaders of finance and industry. He has been joined by fellow ANC leaders Tokyo Sexwale, Mathews Phosa and Kgalema Motlanthe.
Zuma’s press officer told the Mail & Guardian that ”the purpose of his programme [was] to speak to investors. There is a wall-to-wall schedule – it is fully booked. Mr Zuma doesn’t even have time for lunch.”
But former ANC MP Andrew Feinstein, who now lives in London, told the M&G the reason for his visit was ”both to reassure and to attempt to burnish his image at home before his corruption trial”.
He is publicly distancing himself from policies associated with President Thabo Mbeki, which have given the South African leader global notoriety.
In contrast to Mbeki’s bland assurance that ”there is no crisis in Zimbabwe”, Zuma said this week: ”I don’t think that it is acceptable in a democratic system that if you lose an election you can stay on by force.”
As Zuma left Berlin for the UK leg of his European visit, he said: ”Africa should send a mission to Zimbabwe to end the delay.”
In their joint statement after their Wednesday meeting Zuma and Brown called for an end to ”any violence and intimidation” (in Zimbabwe) and emphasised the importance of ”respect for the sovereign people of Zimbabwe and the choice they have made at the ballot box”.
They said they had agreed on the importance of humanitarian aid and the need for international cooperation to support the recovery of the Zimbabwean economy ”once all election processes have been fulfilled”.
On the BBC earlier that day Zuma struck a more strident note, complaining that ”it’s not Mugabe’s job to announce the [election] results”.
But he has not confined his indirect attack on Mbeki — and moves to upstage him internationally — to his stance on Zimbabwe.
On Mbeki’s HIV/Aids dissidence, he said: ”It was not the [ANC] leadership — it was one comrade, comrade President Mbeki.”
Officially, the contact between Zuma and Brown is in their capacities as leaders of the respective parties they represent. But Zuma’s trip has taken on the aspect of a state visit, with the two leaders meeting at Downing Street on Wednesday.
He arrives at a time when Brown’s position is less than secure in the Labour Party and with the electorate, as Tory leader David Cameron is edging ahead in the polls.
He is hoping that his tough stance on Mugabe will bolster his position.
Last week he and Mbeki had a public falling-out at the United Nations, over Mbeki’s remark that ”loud diplomacy was no diplomacy”, which was widely seen as a sideswipe at his British counterpart.
Keenly aware of the rough treatment the British media has meted out to the South African leader, Zuma is clearly positioning himself as Brown’s ally.
Analyst Mark Schroeder, regional director for sub-Saharan Africa at Stratford Strategic Forecasting, said last week: ”If Jacob Zuma could broker some kind of resolution in Zimbabwe that the international community, particularly Britain and the United States, would be happy with, that would probably go a long way to alleviating concerns that other countries have regarding Zuma’s leadership ability.”