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'Courage' needed from Mbeki
13/02/2008 18:08 - (SA)
Johannesburg - Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai urged South African President Thabo Mbeki, on Wednesday to show some "courage" and pressure Robert Mugabe for free and fair elections next month.
Speaking on a visit to Johannesburg, Tsvangirai said it was time for Mbeki to abandon his policy of refusing to criticise the veteran leader of South Africa's troubled northern neighbour.
"We need a little courage from Thabo Mbeki. He can break with his policy of quiet support for the dictatorship in Zimbabwe ... He can add his voice to those demanding free and fair elections in Zimbabwe," said Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party.
"He can do it without taking the risks that we are taking. He won't be arrested, tear-gassed, beaten, he won't be charged with treason, he won't see his supporters killed.
'Little courage required'
"Only a little courage is required - the courage to speak the unpleasant truth, the courage to see what is before him."
Despite the impact of Zimbabwe's economic meltdown on South Africa, Mbeki has consistently refused to speak out against Mugabe, who will seek a sixth term as president in elections on March 29.
Some three million Zimbabweans are believed to have fled south in a bid to find work and escape the impact of the world's highest rate of inflation, now officially put at more than 26nbsp;000%.
Tsvangirai said it was in Mbeki's interests to put pressure on 83-year-old Mugabe to prevent South Africa becoming "overwhelmed by the tragedy of Zimbabwe".
Mbeki was tasked by his southern African peers last year to mediate between Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party and the MDC.
'Good progress' with talks
He had said the talks were making "good progress" before Mugabe unexpectedly called elections last month.
Last week, Mbeki told the South African parliament that Zimbabwe's governing party and opposition have agreed on all "substantive matters" ahead of elections.
"These include issues relating to the constitution, security, media and electoral laws."
But Tsvangirai disputed this. "President Thabo Mbeki ... worked for nearly a year attempting to open more democratic space in Zimbabwe. He has not succeeded," said the opposition leader.
"Nothing has changed. Changes in the law, negotiated by President Mbeki, have not changed the behaviour of the dictatorship. Democratic political campaigns are not permitted in Zimbabwe."
However, South Africa's deputy foreign minister Aziz Pahad told AFP: "We don't know what he is talking about.
"Zimbabweans are gearing for election ... (former finance minister Simba) Makoni has announced he is standing as a candidate.
"So if Tsvangirai says mediation has failed, it would be difficult to understand why everybody is going to the elections."
Tsvangirai stood in the last presidential elections in 2002, claiming he was only defeated because Mugabe rigged the outcome.
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