Mbeki’s position as Zim mediator compromised

By Tichaona Sibanda
24 August 2007

A leading MDC official in South Africa said President Thabo Mbeki will never succeed in his efforts to mediate in the Zimbabwe crisis because he was taken care of by Zanu (PF), during the ANC struggle against apartheid.

Solomon Chikohwero, the first MDC official to be charged under the terrorism act by the Mugabe regime in 2000, said during Mbeki’s stay in Zimbabwe in the 1980’s he was accommodated at a safe house in Hatfield, Harare.

‘From day one, I’ve always said Mbeki is a bad choice to mediate in the Zimbabwe crisis because he will never turn against the same government that looked after him during the ANC’s struggle against the apartheid regime,’ Chikohwero said.

According to Chikohwero, Mbeki’s position is further complicated by the fact that in the 80’s he was once arrested and detained at Conmerra prison near KweKwe by the country’s security services, Mugabe intervened and released him from jail.

‘Although it has never been explained why Mbeki was detained, the fact remains that Mugabe rescued him so you can see the dilemma he is in,’ Chikohwero added.

On Thursday the South African government said its mediation effort in Zimbabwe was on course. But Chikohwero dismissed the statement as ‘rubbish’ and said it was ‘mission impossible’ for Mbeki.
Mbeki was last March tasked by Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders to head efforts to resolve the country’s eight-year political and economic crisis by facilitating dialogue between ZANU PF and the MDC.
However, both Mbeki and fellow SADC leaders have ignored calls for tougher action to force Mugabe and ZANU PF to fully embrace dialogue, saying at the conclusion of a regional summit last week in Zambia that Zimbabwe’s problems were exaggerated.

Writing in the Zimbabwe Times, Tendai Dumbutshena, a South African based Zimbabwe journalist, said SADC leaders have become part of the problem through their unwillingness to address issues that lie at the root of the crisis.

‘Instead they toe the line peddled by Mugabe that Britain and its allies are responsible for the country’s descent into poverty, squalor and backwardness. They refuse to acknowledge that politics lie at the heart of the crisis in Zimbabwe,’ he wrote.

Meanwhile UK based MDC activist John Nyamande said that nothing short of a political solution would solve the crisis in the country. Nyamande added that even a financial rescue package will not work until there is a genuine desire to change things by the government.

‘The country’s problems will remain a pipe dream as long as Mugabe sticks to his bullish and uncompromising behaviour,’ Nyamande said.