President Thabo Mbeki will brief his fellow southern African leaders later this week about the state of his attempt to mediate a new political dispensation in Zimbabwe. Mbeki will meet the leaders of SADC at the African Union summit which starts tomorrow in Addis Ababa, Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said yesterday. Last March, SADC leaders mandated Mbeki to mediate political negotiations between Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to create conditions for free and fair presidential and parliamentary elections, which were then expected in March this year. The two parties agreed on some reforms, including the easing of laws restricting opposition political activity and independent media.
But they deadlocked recently over the MDC’s demands for a new, negotiated constitution to be put in place before the elections, for a truly independent electoral commission to run the elections, and for the elections to be postponed beyond March to allow the reforms to take effect. Mbeki visited Harare last week to try to break the deadlock, but failed, and on Friday Mugabe announced that the elections would take place on March 29. The MDC and others interpreted this as a slap in the face for Mbeki and for the SADC. At a briefing in Pretoria yesterday Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad refused to be drawn on questions about whether Mugabe had insulted Mbeki by announcing the date of the elections unilaterally. He said the negotiations were sensitive and only the Presidency could answer questions about them.
(Source: Mbeki To Brief SADC Leaders On Mediation Progress In Zimbabwe)