South Africa’s foreign minister admits Zimbabwe has a problem

By Tererai Karimakwenda
31 May 2006

South African officials have been dead silent about the deteriorating Zimbabwe situation for a long time now and the country’s policies on Zimbabwe have reflected a denial of the crisis next door. But this week has seen a flurry of comments that seem to suggest they are finally admitting Zimbabwe has a serious problem. There is still however no admission by any of them that Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF are responsible.

Speaking in parliament on Monday, Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said the issues in Zimbabwe remained a challenge but reiterated that it was up to the people themselves to solve its problems. She said: "There is a problem, there is a challenge, but I do not have all the answers about how to solve Zimbabwe. I think equally none of us has all the answers. The answers do lie in the Zimbabweans' hands." This was the first time a high-ranking South African official had admitted this. But the foreign minister refused to commit to any action such as targeted sanctions saying those imposed by the EU had failed.

Then on Tuesday South Africa’s Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka was reported to have said the country can do little to shield itself from an eventual collapse of Zimbabwe's devastated economy but would step in quickly to help recovery. This has been viewed as an admission that Zimbabwe is indeed headed for collapse. According to The Cape Argus newspaper, Mlambo-Ngcuka also said "I don't even know if we can shield ourselves in that way because we cannot really close our border for instance." This was a reference to the estimated 3 million Zimbabweans who have already fled to South Africa. The majority of them are living there illegally.

These comments by the foreign minister and the deputy president come just days after South Africa’s president Thabo Mbeki had told another newspaper that UN secretary general Kofi Annan had devised a plan to resolve the Zimbabwe crisis and had agreed to visit the country. He suggested that it would be wise to await the outcome of Annan’s initiative before pursuing other avenues. Observers have said all of this activity suggests a solution for Zimbabwe has become a priority for South Africa.