Mbeki to meet MDC and Zanu-PF negotiators in Harare

By Tichaona Sibanda
21 November 2007

South African President Thabo Mbeki will fly to Harare on Thursday to meet with the ruling Zanu-PF party and the opposition MDC negotiating teams. He is also expected to brief his counterpart, Robert Mugabe.

A statement from his office said the visit is part of efforts to break a political deadlock between the country’s feuding political parties. Mbeki, who was appointed by regional leaders earlier this year to mediate between the two sides, will be making a stop-over in the capital on his way to the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Uganda, Kampala.

A South African based political analyst told Newsreel the visit was a follow-up by Mbeki to the meeting he held last week in Pretoria with the leaders of the divided MDC, Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara.

Glen Mpani said it seems Mbeki, with the help of SADC, wants to ensure that his image as the mediator is not blemished by the failure to resolve the Zimbabwe crisis. The ANC leader is reportedly pushing for a negotiated settlement that would give the country an opportunity to show it can hold elections that work.

Mpani argued that the 2008 polls are key to the country’s recovery after the disputed elections in 2002 and 2005 descended into violence that led to the current political and economic crisis.

‘The efforts of the SADC bloc and the support of the international community have afforded Zimbabwe the opportunity to recover,’ saidMpani.

He added that the country’s economy is struggling against powerful headwinds: political mismanagement, corruption, inflation that is out of control, food shortages and a destroyed agriculture sector that used to be the backborne of the economy. These are all likely to intensify, rather than weaken, in the year ahead especially if there is a disputed election.

‘It is really important for Zimbabwe, with the help of SADC and the international community to organise transparent, objective, free and fair elections, and to avoid contestation of results. That is why the international community is keeping a close watch on the mediation talks,’ he said.

There is consensus that Mbeki should not let Zanu-PF dictate the pace, outcome and the implementation of agreements that will come out of the talks. This comes after the ruling party insisted elections be held in March next year, despite overwhelming evidence that opposition parties would not be ready.

Mpani explained that by sticking to March Mugabe and his party want to capitalise on the disunity and internal wrangling currently ravaging the MDC, making it difficult for them to mobilise their resources to fight the well-oiled machinery run by Zanu-PF.

‘Why the ruling party is reluctant to push the elections forward is they will give the opposition ground to regroup and I don’t think they want to face either a united or organised MDC. This is where Mbeki should stand up and be counted. He should not allow any particular party to have pre-conceived ideas that will turn out to be detrimental to the entire country,’ Mpani said.