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Mbeki's mediation 'fails'
22/02/2008 15:39 - (SA)
Celean Jacobson
Johannesburg - The collapse of President Thabo Mbeki's mediation to resolve the political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe was a disaster that had failed to achieve one of its main aims - an uncontested election, the troubled country's main opposition said.
The Movement for Democratic Change lifted the lid on talks, which collapsed last month after President Robert Mugabe unilaterally proclaimed a March 29 date for general elections.
"Sadly and regrettably, the dialogue has failed and failed beyond reasonable doubt," said Tendai Biti, lead negotiator for the main MDC faction led by Morgan Tsvangirai.
Mbeki was mandated by the South African Development Community in March to facilitate dialogue between the MDC and Mugabe's Zanu-PF party after a crackdown on opposition activists.
Mbeki's efforts 'success'
Mbeki, who had been criticised for his policy of "quiet diplomacy" toward Zimbabwe, had given repeated assurances that conditions would be in place to ensure elections would be free and fair.
However, with talks shrouded in secrecy, the South African government was as late as last week insisting that Mbeki's efforts had been a success and that the election date was a sign of this.
"We take exception to the suggestions that our participation in this election is proof of the success of the SADC (mediation). It is possibly proof of the failure of that process," Biti said.
Biti, who was accompanied by Welshman Ncube, chief negotiator for the smaller MDC faction led by Arthur Mutumbara, gave a detailed account of the negotiations and how Zanu-PF had reneged on agreements to implement a new constitution and make legislative reforms before an election was held.
The opposition itself was divided and would be contesting the elections separately. Although Mutumbara had indicated that he would throw his support behind former finance minister and Zanu-PF loyalist Simba Makoni who announced his plans earlier this month to challenge Mugabe for the presidency.
Brown boycotts EU-Africa summit
Mugabe, who turned 84 on Friday, had led Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980. Opponents blamed him for an economic meltdown since 2000 that had left Zimbabwe with acute shortages of gasoline, hard currency food and most basic goods.
The official rate of annual inflation in Zimbabwe had rocketed past the 100 000% barrier, officials said on Thursday.
Biti said they had been "cautiously optimistic" about the talks and had to "pinch themselves" to believe some of the concessions Zanu-PF negotiators were making.
However, he said negotiations began to fail in early December as Mugabe was leaving for the EU-Africa summit in Lisbon, Portugal, which British Prime Minister Gordon Brown boycotted because of the Zimbabwe's president's presence and which was hailed as a triumph by Zimbabwean media.
Negotiators for Zanu-PF insisted elections took place in March 2008 and any reform happened after that.
"It became clear that Zanu-PF was now treating the dialogue as an exercise ... that had no bearing on elections," Ncube said.
Mbeki attempted to resolve the deadlock after he visited Harare in January, but failed and it was "agreed that no useful purpose would be served by continuing with the dialogue," he said.
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