President Thabo Mbeki was part of the Zimbabwe problem by using the continuing violence in the country to blackmail the opposition into talks, Allan Boesak said on Sunday.

He called on churches and religious bodies to find ways to put pressure on Mbeki and Zimbabwe‘s rulers to stop the violence there, after victims testified at the international HIV and Aids conference this week about the systematic rape of opposition supporters.

Boesak was part of a delegation of reformed churches, including the Presbyterian and Unitarian churches, which gathered last month near Benoni for a special summit on Zimbabwe. Their subsequent submission to the presidency was critical of Mbeki’s handling of the crisis.

This week South African Council of Churches (SACC) president Tinyiko Maluleke said the council had not been satisfied with the response. He said the presidency had asked the delegation to bring evidence on the level and scope of the violence.

“We handed a comprehensive dossier to his office, but were are not happy with the response,” he said.

After Zimbabwe‘s March 29 election, Mbeki dispatched a team of retired generals to probe the violence, but their report had never been published.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change said at least 120 of its officials and supporters had been murdered, while non-governmental stalwarts such as Elinor Sisulu said the figure could well be more than 600.

Boesak said on Sunday the group was receiving e-mails and phone calls daily from victims of violence.

At the Aids conference in Mexico this week, a group of women recounted how they had been raped by government militias.

The SACC had been particularly upset about increasing reports of limbs being hacked off, which is reminiscent of the infamous amputations of the hands of participants in Sierra Leone elections during the reign of Fody Sankoh.

This information had been gathered at great risk by churchgoers and others across Zimbabwe, said Boesak.

The presidency’s response had been one “we had become used to”, he said – one of “stilstuipe” (Afrikaans for an attack of silence). “It raises the fundamental question, why is the violence still continuing?” asked Boesak. “Why is Mbeki not getting Mugabe to stop the violence? How can a real, honest settlement be achieved while violence is being perpetrated on innocent people?”

He accused Mbeki of using the violence to put the MDC in an ” invidious” position during the talks – forcing the organisation into negotiations in a morally disadvantageous position, because Mbeki told them the violence would stop only if they took part.

Boesak said this hidden agenda was being played out in the talks.

Maluleke cast doubt on the whole exercise of the talks. “What is the use of a political settlement if the people have to live in the midst of death?” he asked.

Boesak said the talks should no longer be about “making a pact with the devil”, but about securing peace. He suggested that pressure from all sides and of all sorts, including renewed calls for sanctions, be maintained on the Mugabe regime, and on Mbeki, to stop the violence.

During their first submission, the church leaders called on regional governments to refuse to recognise Mugabe as president. They also called on Mbeki to desist from making statements showing a partiality to Mugabe.

(Source)