SA warns Mugabe of Egypt-style uprising

Zulu’s warning in an interview with the New York Times came as Southern African leaders prepared to tackle the Zimbabwean crisis at a special summit in Johannesburg last night.

The summit was expected to start in the evening and drag into the night. It was preceded by a huge demonstration by Zimbabweans based in South Africa at the summit venue in Sandton, Johannesburg.

The demonstration broke up in chaotic scenes after the exiles made up of MDC-T, MDC, Zapu and Mthwakazi Liberation Front activists started attacking each other.

“People want to see democracy,” she said. “People need their voices to be heard.

“Those are the winds that are sweeping the continent, and people ignore them at their own peril.”Ahead of the summit Zulu said she did not see elections being held this year, despite Zanu PF’s insistence that polls should be held.

“I don’t think the president (Robert Mugabe) would like to go against a Sadc decision,” she said.

The latest statements are not likely to endear Zulu to Zanu PF hardliners, who at one time called on Zuma to remove her from the facilitation team.

Keep Reading

• Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
• Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
• Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
• Councils defy govt fire tender directive

Following a summit in Livingstone, Zambia, state media led the attack on Zulu, but she has maintained that she will not be removed from the facilitation team, saying the episode was “unfortunate, but we will not be moved.”

Zulu’s assertions come amid indications that Sadc will tell the feuding partners in Zimbabwe’s inclusive government to delay elections, while adopting an electoral roadmap.

“The roadmap is likely to be adopted,” Dumisani Muleya, assistant editor at The Standard’s sister paper, the Zimbabwe Independent said from the summit venue yesterday evening.

“The Livingstone communiqué is also going to be one of the main issues there.”

Muleya said South Africa was also going to push for the implementation of outstanding issues in the Global Political Agreement with indications that security sector reform was also going to be discussed.

A Zanu PF team, led by Jonathan Moyo has been claiming that Sadc has no mandate to discuss security sector reform, however, modification of that sector is one of the issues in the GPA.

In Livingstone the Sadc troika on politics, defence and security was particularly scathing on Mugabe and Zanu PF, with the former liberation movement calling for a revision of a report that was compiled after the summit.

“Zanu PF has been lobbying leaders to hear their position, claiming that the Livingstone report was one sided,” Muleya said. “They claim that it is MDC-T that is violent citing the death of a policeman in Glen View and violence in the run up to that party’s congress.”

With these claims, Muleya said, Zanu PF will call for the revision of the Livingstone Communique, although this was highly unlikely.

He said he had spoken to some informed sources, who had revealed that the Livingstone report was not likely to be revised though there was room that a few issues may be included.

An issue which was likely to be included is that of sanctions, which Zanu PF believes was erroneously omitted.

Muleya said, while pushing for the full implementation of the GPA, Sadc leaders were likely to tell Mugabe that had he dealt with outstanding issues, this political logjam would have been avoided.

Since the formation of the inclusive government just over two years ago, the coalition partners, Zanu PF and the two formations of the MDC have been at each other’s throats over implementation of the GPA.

Zanu PF claims the best way to deal with the impasse is by holding elections this year, but its coalition partners claim that polls cannot be held before an electoral roadmap is adopted.