Zimbabwe begs for billions from South Africa

By Violet Gonda
18 July 2005

Under normal circumstances an act of goodwill by South Africa to Zimbabwe would not be controversial but given the current notoriety of the Mugabe regime and the human rights abuses, any help Mbeki offered would taint South Africa's reputation.

So it is disturbing to hear that Thabo Mbeki's government is in discussion about granting it's cash-strapped neighbour a substantial line of credit worth hundreds of millions of rand. Observers say if Mbeki goes ahead and rescues Zimbabwe's despotic regime then it will question his seriousness regarding NEPAD, of which he himself is the chief architect. According to the Business Day in SA a Zimbabwean delegation met with Finance Minister Trevor Manuel and Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni, and that the country was likely to soon obtain a credit line for electricity, petrol and food. The newspaper said it was unlikely the amount involved would be anything close to the R6,5bn mentioned in the press but will be in the hundreds of millions.

There has been an outcry from within SA with the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) saying such a payment by SA "would scupper any shift towards a firmer stance against the Mugabe regime. And it comes at a time when most members of the international community, including the IMF and the World Bank, plan to cut ties with Zimbabwe as a result of the Mugabe regime's consistent human rights abuses."

Mugabe is directly responsible for the crisis in Zimbabwe and many say he is ruling without the consent of the nation. Good governance and peer review are at the core of Mbeki's initiative and if he is seen to be helping a rogue state it could jeopardise his chances of getting aid from the G8 countries.

DA spokesman MP Joe Seremane says his party will ask the Mbeki government to explain any proposed loan to Zimbabwe in parliament because arbitrary decisions cannot be taken with taxpayers' money. He said there is no democratic climate prevailing in Zimbabwe and with Nepad in mind, Mbeki's behavior is a stunning indictment of South Africa's foreign policy towards Zimbabwe and exposes how his "quiet diplomacy" has resulted in South Africa becoming complicit in the worst excesses of the Mugabe regime.

In this context the DA believes that any loan or payment given should only be granted with the strictest conditions that are designed to ensure that the money made available will be used to ease the suffering of ordinary Zimbabweans and not to finance what has increasingly become a rogue state.

Meanwhile this latest development has put into question the future of the talks. Mbeki has been saying for many years that he will encourage dialogue between the Zanu PF leader and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai but never seemed to follow through. Political commentator Professor Stanford Mukasa says the South African leader's bailout for Mugabe should show the MDC that he is not to be taken seriously. He urged the opposition party to now mobilise its own people into mass protests. Professor Mukasa said, "The MDC should look for more effective strategies, Mugabe is not interested in talks."