Tsvangirai in South Africa seeking pressure for election results

By Tererai Karimakwenda
07 April, 2008

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai was in South Africa Monday, as the electoral crisis in Zimbabwe continued without the release of the presidential poll results. MDC secretary-general Tendai Biti told reporters that Tsvangirai was meeting with “important people in South Africa” but he gave no other details.
South Africa has not been much help in resolving the situation in Zimbabwe. President Thabo Mbeki and his policy of “quiet diplomacy” deprived Zimbabweans of information during the SADC initiated talks that he mediated. Comments made by Mbeki and officials from his government have also been criticized for their suggestion that all was well in Zimbabwe.

Most recently deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad said he had ruled out any possibility that Robert Mugabe would doctor the election results, because "they have already been displayed to the public." Pahad blasted the media saying there was an orchestrated campaign, by sections of the international and South African media, to claim that the delay is a plot by the government to "doctor" and "steal" the elections.

South Africa based writer and reporter Geoff Hill, who also chairs the Foreign Press Association, dismissed Pahad’s suggestion that the press has orchestrated a canmpaign. He said; “The media are very competitive. We do not sit together like a group of witches making up a spell. We are on each other’s tails trying to steal stories in the best spirits, trying to be the first to print something.”

Hill said what Pahad should be addressing is the absence of an explanation by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. He added: “If there is no effort to change the results, then why has the ZEC not published those results.”

Regarding Tsvangirai’s visit to South Africa, Hill said the MDC leader is believed to have been meeting with President Mbeki himself. He sees this as a positive sign because Mbeki usually meets with Mugabe first when there are serious issues in Zimbabwe.

Despite calls by the opposition for SADC, AU and UN intervention, on Saturday Mbeki said the situation in Zimbabwe was "manageable" and the international community should wait for full election results and refrain from intervention. Speaking at a conference of "progressive governance" leaders hosted by Prime Minister Gordon Brown in the UK, Mbeki said: “If there is a rerun of the presidential election let's see what comes out of that."

Hill believes that tension within Mbeki’s ANC party will soon prove to be helpful to the MDC. This is due to the fact that the newly elected ANC President Jacob Zuma has a “much tougher line on Zimbabwe”.