South Africa’s new government will hold its first meeting with the European Union on Friday as regional pressure mounts for the bloc to lift sanctions against troubled Zimbabwe.
The meeting, expected to forge ties between the new leadership and the EU, comes amid ongoing discord in Zimbabwe’s fragile unity government, with President Robert Mugabe blaming Western sanctions for impeding progress.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC), tasked with mediating Zimbabwe’s political crisis, concluded a summit this week by calling on the international community ”to remove all forms of sanctions against Zimbabwe”.
EU ambassador in Pretoria Lodewijk Briët said the process of evaluating the situation in Zimbabwe was under way and targeted sanctions against certain government officials and companies would be lifted ”when it is opportune”.
It was also mulling funding requirements by the cash-strapped nation.
”But we cannot whitewash the human rights violations. We did not do it in South Africa [during apartheid] and we will not do it in Zimbabwe. It will not happen if there is no movement on the other side; it takes two to dance a tango,” Briët said.
A spokesperson for President Jacob Zuma said discussions on Zimbabwe would cover progress made in the country since his predecessor, Thabo Mbeki, negotiated the unity government formed in February.
”I will therefore imagine that if and when the Zimbabwe issue does come up the president will raise the issue of sanctions … with a particular focus to get EU countries to consider their position on the lifting of sanctions,” Vincent Magwenya said.
South Africa on Wednesday defended the regional call for sanctions to be dropped with Zuma’s deputy, Kgalema Motlanthe, telling Parliament that it was a ”a very responsible approach”.
”This call for the lifting of sanctions is not aimed at protecting and defending President Robert Mugabe as an individual. It is meant to attract necessary investments into Zimbabwe so that their economic recovery plan can take effect,” he said.
The 85-year-old Mugabe and his close allies are the subject of travel bans and asset freezes imposed by Western states.
Symbolic meeting
Zuma took office in April and this will be the first time he hosts the summit with the EU.
”This is going to be the first Zuma presidency meeting at summit level so it is about introducing the new ministers to the EU delegation,” EU-Africa expert Romy Chevallier, of the South African Institute of International Affairs, said.
”This is literally a symbolic meeting showing the importance of the relationship.”
The EU remains South Africa’s most important partner for trade and development, making up 35% of the country’s trade.
With environmentally concerned Sweden as the current EU president, climate change was high on the agenda and the impacts of the economic crisis would also take centre stage.
”There is a lot more emphasis on non-traditional areas of cooperation,” Chevallier said, whereas trade and development had always been the cornerstone of relations between the partners.
South Africa’s continuing concerns over the EU’s Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with other countries in the region will also be discussed. Pretoria says they interfere with the regional customs union.
”We are not far from agreeing [but] there are issues of principles” dear to South Africa, said Briët.
Motlanthe told Parliament on Wednesday the regional customs union would meet ”to make sure we interact with the EU as a region rather than just as weak and individual countries”.
Namibia has also refused to sign the agreements already inked by Botswana, Zambia, Lesotho and Swaziland.
Zuma will meet Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt on Thursday ahead of the summit. — AFP
