Fact or fiction- more drama surfaces on South Africa loan

By Tererai Karimakwenda
17 August 2005

The government paper The Herald reports that a twist has been revealed regarding the proposed US$1 billion loan from South Africa to Zimbabwe. The paper alleges revelations that it was the United States government that approached South African president Thabo Mbeki to bail out Zimbabwe. It has been reported until now that Zimbabwe had asked for the loan and no officials had denied this so far.

The Herald claims a highly-placed Western diplomat in South Africa closely following the deal and told them that International Monetary Fund deputy managing director Anne Krueger approached Mbeki and asked him to advance financial support to Zimbabwe ahead of the IMF summit set for September. Her argument was that this would strengthen the case against Zimbabwe’s expulsion. The story said Mbeki was surprised the United States, which had supported the cutting of Zimbabwe’s lines of credit from organisations such as the IMF, was now against Zimbabwe’s
expulsion.
The loan affair has been full of misinformation due to lack of clarity from the officials involved. From the beginning there have been conflicting reports about the actual amount and whether conditions on Mugabe would be part of the deal. This report makes many serious allegations, but the one important question that emerges is whether or not he United States approached South Africa.
Chris Maroleng at The Institute for Security Studies in South Africa said you’d have to be sceptical of any information published in the Herald as it is a government mouthpiece. Maroleng sees the report as an attempt by Zimbabwean officials to justify their unwillingness to accept conditions imposed on the loan by South Africa. Out of desperation he said, they are now creating rumours, fiction and fantasy.
Maroleng also said there is a surprising wealth of information on the loan deal in the South African press and he wonders whether it is being leaked by officials there who are opposed to it.