Mugabe has no intention of negotiating a democratic solution to present crisis
Daily News
by David Coltart
OPINION PIECE: South African President Thabo Mbeki in a recent State visit to Canada assured Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien that talks were taking place in Zimbabwe between the Mugabe regime and the opposition MDC and that a settlement was likely soon.
These comments follow similar confident assurances given by President Mbeki to President George Bush when he visited South Africa in July.
These assertions are not new. President Mbeki first commenced his policy of “quiet diplomacy” in April 2000 following the first brutal murders committed earlier that same month by the Mugabe regime against the opposition in the run up to the 2000 Parliamentary elections. Since then he has repeatedly stated that this policy was the best way of resolving the crisis in Zimbabwe.
The MDC has stated repeatedly since July that whilst there have in the past been a few informal discussions with elements of the Mugabe regime no agreement has been reached. In fact since President Bush’s visit no discussions or talks of any description have taken place. The Mugabe regime itself has issued similar denials about the so-called progress of the talks about talks. The only person who persistently insists that talks are taking place, that agreement has almost been reached and that a settlement is imminent, is President Mbeki.
Whilst one doesn’t wish to question President Mbeki’s good faith one wonders what sort of intelligence he is receiving. What does he know that we don’t know? Has he been advised of something that even the head of our dialogue team, Hon Professor Welshman Ncube doesn’t know? The South Africans counter these denials from both parties as coyness on their part - in other words part of their negotiating strategy and, accordingly, untrue.