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Govt: Mugabe didn't dump Mbeki
15/07/2007 13:26 - (SA)
Johannesburg - The South African government has slammed as untrue weekend reports of the collapse of Southern African Development Community-led talks on Zimbabwe.
"Nothing is further from the truth," Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said in a statement issued from India.
"The South African government puts it on record that there is no shred of truth in the suggestion that (Zimbabwe's) President Robert Mugabe has spurned the SADC-led facilitation process as reported in the weekend media," he said.
The Sunday Times reported that Mugabe had dumped Mbeki as a mediator in its political and economic crisis.
Mugabe reportedly accused Mbeki of promising to ensure his exit from Zimbabwean politics, and was not happy at the sympathy for a suggestion by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change that the country needed a new constitution before next year's elections.
"He has ordered his party's key negotiators, Patrick Chinamasa and Nicholas Goche, to boycott negotiations that were supposed to resume in Pretoria this week," the newspaper reported.
However, the SA government said the facilitation process remained "on course".
It rejected as "falsehood" the report that Mugabe has ordered negotiators to boycott the talks.
"The Zanu-PF delegation could not attend the scheduled discussions in Pretoria this week due to prior engagements and for this they tendered an apology to the South African government," said Mamoepa.
"In this regard, efforts (are) underway to set a new date for the facilitation talks which the Zanu-PF delegation will attend," he said.
The government accused the media of trying to detract from attempts to find a solution to the crisis in Zimbabwe.
"... Whatever South Africans do, they ought to ask the question whether this will advance or deter the cause of facilitation in Zimbabwe," said Mamoepa.
"For its part, the government remains committed to the mandate of the SADC to assist the people of Zimbabwe in their endeavour to find a solution to their political challenges," he said.
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