Save Zimbabwe Campaign lobbies Mbeki to broaden talks

By Tichaona Sibanda
30 May 2007

The Save Zimbabwe Campaign has written a letter to South African President Thabo Mbeki with a specific request to include civic groups in the current political negotiations between the government and the opposition MDC.

Spokesman of the grouping Dr Lovemore Madhuku told Newsreel any mediation worth its salt in Zimbabwe should involve all stakeholders. The Save Zimbabwe Campaign is a coalition of 31 civic and opposition groups, including the two MDC factions. Madhuku said they have also asked Mbeki to tell the regime to stop its crackdown against its pro-democracy opponents.

‘We are simply appealing to Mbeki to ensure that if they want to really have progress and meaning to what they are doing they should broaden the process and involve all key stakeholders. It’s common knowledge that the views of millions of disenfranchised Zimbabweans cannot be articulated by two opposing political parties,’ Madhuku said.

President Mbeki was mandated last month by heads of the Southern African Development Community, SADC, to mediate talks between the ruling Zanu (PF) party and the main opposition MDC, to try to solve the deep political crisis, as the country teeters toward economic collapse.

But Madhuku said they remain sceptical over Mbeki’s capabilities to broker any truce in the country because of his close alliance with the regime. The South African President has tried and failed before to resolve the ever sliding crisis in the country.

‘We have this feeling that Mbeki and the SADC bloc want to dodge the issue of civic groups being included because we believe they have a hidden agenda to try and legitimise the ruling party and pretend they have solved the issue,’ Madhuku said.

If that is the case he said, they will not rest until ‘someone sees sense’ and call for a national dialogue to resolve the crisis. Low level talks brokered by a ministerial delegation from South Africa have already taken place between a government delegation and senior MDC officials.