The SADC will today endorse Robert Mugabe’s claim to be the legitimate president of Zimbabwe by excluding opposition leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara from its 28th summit. The endorsement will come despite the boycott by President Ian Khama of Botswana of the summit because of the invitation to Mugabe, and in the face of several calls from organisations all across the region for the summit to declare Mugabe’s presidency illegitimate. Some will be joining a march in Sandton today to protest against Mugabe’s presence at the summit, as well as that of Swaziland‘s King Mswati III, mainly because his “feudalist” regime bans political parties. The king will take over as the chair of the organ on security and politics on Sunday, the committee of the summit tasked with dealing with crises like that in Zimbabwe.

The leaders of the two factions of the Movement for Democratic Change have been invited to the summit, SA Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said at a Press conference last night in Sandton. But they were only scheduled to address the troika of the organ at the “summit level”. The troika consists of the current chairman, Jose dos Santos of Angola, Mswati and Tanzania‘s Jaya Kikwete. SADC is an inter-governmental organisation, and inter-political, Dlamini-Zuma said, and the summit would therefore only be joined by Mugabe. Executive secretary Tomaz Salamao said SADC was a family, and the absence of one member could not be allowed to undermine the presence of the other 13 heads of state. Zambia‘s ailing President Levy Mwanawasa will send a special representative.

Tsvangirai yesterday held discussions with President Thabo Mbeki after being held briefly at Harare airport on his way to the summit. The delay led to him missing his flight. Asked for comment, Dlamini-Zuma said Tsvangirai’s “detention”, as she called it, was unacceptable to South Africa, “especially in the context of trying to resolve the Zimbabwe situation”. It was not clear whether the matter would be raised with Mugabe at the summit. On Khama’s non-attendance, Dlamini-Zuma said Botswana was a sovereign state, and that his decision would not diminish the importance of unity within SADC. It would actually make it important, she said. All eyes will be on this morning’s opening ceremony. Last year Mugabe was given a standing ovation when he entered the summit, held in Lusaka.

Meanwhile, Basildon Peta reports that Mbeki appeared to be involved in a “final push” to encourage an agreement among Zimbabwe‘s warring parties ahead of a today’s summit. Late yesterday he was meeting Mugabe who is already in the country. Mbeki’s spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga confirmed his meeting with Mugabe. He said Mbeki would also meet Arthur Mutambara, leader of a smaller faction of the MDC, before meeting MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai last night. Asked why Mbeki was meeting the leaders separately when he had just sat with them around the same table in Harare, Ratshitanga said: “Anyone familiar with conflict resolution processes around the world will not attach any value to that question. At some point you meet them as a group (when resolving a conflict). At some point you meet them individually. This is not complicated mathematics.”

Ratshitanga dismissed questions about whether Mbeki was involved in a “final push” as “deeply offensive”. “When we visited Zimbabwe the other time, you people (media) said we were eager to get a deal to please the G8 as if all our visits to Zimbabwe have preceded G8 summits. We are doing what we are doing because we are committed to helping parties in Zimbabwe resolve the challenges in our neighbouring country. We are not doing it to get a deal to parade at summits as if we were beauty queens on the ramp,” he said. Mbeki’s Zimbabwe intervention has stalled over Tsvangirai’s demand for executive powers in line with the March 29 election he won. Tsvangirai has rejected a power-sharing deal he believes would relegate him to a “ceremonial prime minister’s position” with Mugabe still in charge.

(Source)