Zuma condemns MDC raid
2008-04-25 23:11
Paris - Jacob Zuma condemned on Friday a police raid on opposition party headquarters in Zimbabwe, adding that it appeared "somebody is sabotaging the elections" there.
The ANC president told The Associated Press in an interview that incidents like Friday's raid on opposition headquarters in Harare make the country resemble a police state.
"Why should the police come in, why should they do this?" he asked after reading a news report about the raid, in which heavily armed police shoved or beat scores of people, arrested hundreds and seized materials on vote counting. The offices of independent election observers were also targeted in the raid.
Both groups have claimed the opposition, lead by Morgan Tsvangirai, won the March 29 presidential elections. Zimbabweans are still awaiting official results, amid charges that President Robert Mugabe is using violence and stealth to hold on to power.
Zuma called the delay in announcing the results "unexplainable", and said "it cannot be supported".
Asked whether the delayed announcement suggested Mugabe did not win the elections, Zuma said "it is difficult to speculate, except that somebody is sabotaging the elections".
Incidents like Friday's raids are "creating a situation where people could say this is now a police state," he said.
Zuma said the situation in Zimbabwe "is going beyond the point where people should just look at it", adding that action is needed "as urgently as possible".
He said that in order to resolve the "impasse" in Zimbabwe, Mugabe and Tsvangirai will have to sit down for talks.
Asked about a South African court's decision earlier this month to prevent a shipment of arms from China from transiting to Zimbabwe, Zuma said it highlighted the region's determination to prevent an escalation of violence in Zimbabwe.
Authorities in Mozambique, which also borders on Zimbabwe, which is landlocked, refused the Chinese freighter carrying the arms permission to dock.
Zuma was speaking on a visit to Paris, the last leg of an ANC delegation tour that has also taken him to Germany and Britain, where he held talks on Thursday with Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
- AP