MDC asks Mbeki to seek SADC advice on talk’s deadlock

Tichaona Sibanda
28 January 2008

The MDC Vice-President Thokozani Khupe on Monday said that SADC should now intervene in the crisis talks on Zimbabwe because both parties in the negotiations have reported a deadlock to the appointed mediator Thabo Mbeki.

‘What we are waiting for now is for President Mbeki to report back to SADC because they mandated him to facilitate the talks between the MDC and Zanu-PF,’ Khupe said.

Speaking to Newsreel from Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, Khupe said the crisis in the country remains a political one which Africa and its political institutions are capable of resolving.

‘SADC has a position on Zimbabwe, like any other country in the grouping, that conditions for free and fair elections have to be set before going to the polls. Sadly Mugabe and Zanu-PF have reneged on the very principles set out by SADC and Mbeki during the last 10 months,’ said the MDC vice-president.
Khupe is leading a MDC delegation to the African Union summit that begins in the Ethiopian capital this week. With her in the delegation is Professor Elphas Mukonoweshuro, the MDC secretary for International Affairs, and Nqobizitha Mlilo the party’s political liaison officer.

The team has been lobbying African diplomats to put pressure on Mugabe to bring a speedy resolution to the crisis in the country. Khupe has been reminding diplomats of events in Kenya, which she said were a direct product of an election held under disputed conditions. This, she said, led inevitably to the dispute of the election results.

She pointed out that this situation must be avoided in Zimbabwe. She added that ‘Indeed, President Mbeki has correctly highlighted that the elections in Zimbabwe must be held in conditions in which the election results will not be disputed.’ Khupe stated that the MDC is ready at anytime for a free and fair election, but Mugabe and Zanu-PF must implement positions agreed at the SADC brokered talks and introduce a new constitution before the elections.