Unity govt proposal 'premature'
2008-04-24 16:30
Special Report
A classical music presenter for the BBC has been arrested and is in custody in Zimbabwe.
London - Proposals for a national unity government in Zimbabwe are premature while elections results remain unknown, and are a question for the country's people - not its neighbours, African National Congress leader Jacob Zuma said on Thursday.
Zuma said during a visit to London that the international community's focus should remain on publication of results from the March 29 presidential poll in Zimbabwe and the conclusion of recounts in 23 legislative elections.
Zuma, who met British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Wednesday, has refused to criticise Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe over the delays to publication of the results and instead has blamed Zimbabwe's Election Commission.
At a London news conference, Zuma insisted now is not the time to consider an idea of negotiating a unity government in Zimbabwe, a possibility raised in the country's state-run Herald newspaper on Wednesday. The Herald proposed that Mugabe lead any such government - an idea the opposition rejects, saying its leader won the poll.
"Once you begin to ask that question, you are even preventing a possibility of discussing the issue from the beginning," Zuma said. "You are already influencing what the outcome is likely to be."
The ANC chief declined to endorse the proposal, or indicate who South Africa would support to lead any future unity government.
'Complicate the process'
"If that proposal becomes a firm proposal, which must be put to the Zimbabwean people - if they accept it, let us allow them to go there before we scare them with who will lead," Zuma told reporters in London.
He said that attempting to predict Zimbabwe's future could hinder efforts to break the election impasse.
"I think going too much further might just complicate the process," Zuma said.
President Thabo Mbeki has been criticised for not strongly condemning Mugabe over delays in releasing the election results. Zuma has taken a tougher line on Mugabe.
"What we did when we thought things in Zimbabwe were not going right is that we took a very conscious decision to engage with them, to talk to them," Zuma said.
"We did not think it was prudent for us to stand on the rooftops and criticise Zimbabwe and give them names, as you do, like dictator," he told reporters.
'Out of order'
Zuma rejected calls for South Africa to discuss a military intervention in Zimbabwe, saying there was no comparison between post-election violence and the 1998 South African troop deployment to Lesotho following disputed elections.
"There was a particular situation in Lesotho where the army had got involved in the process," Zuma said. He insisted there has been no discussion of troops entering Zimbabwe among the 14-nation Southern African Development Community.
But Zuma said reports of state-backed violence in Zimbabwe are of huge concern. "That cannot be allowed, it is wrong and absolutely out of order," Zuma said, adding that the ANC will consider issuing a statement of condemnation.
- AP