SA 'working flat out' on Zimbabwe
Shaun Benton
26 June 2008
South African government facilitators are working "around the clock" to get Zimbabwe's political parties to agree to a settlement.
Briefing reporters after a Cabinet meeting in Cape Town on Wednesday, government spokesman Themba Maseko said concerns of more violence and human rights violations have been raised around the world as Zimbabwe prepares to hold a presidential run-off election on Friday.
Maseko said the South African government was extremely concerned about the violence taking place in the country's northern neighbour, and affirmed its support of a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning this violence.
"The South African government is working around the clock, in its capacity as facilitator, to get the parties to agree to a political settlement," he said.
Maseko said South African Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi was in talks with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and members of the ruling Zanu-PF party headed by Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.
All options were being considered by the facilitators acting on behalf of South African President Thabo Mbeki, who has been mandated by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to facilitate talks in Zimbabwe.
Maseko said one of these options was the postponement of the presidential run-off poll.
However, the South African government remained optimistic that the facilitation process would yield a solution of some sort, but would not release more information on the process in case this jeopardised the talks, adding that it was "still possible for the parties to agree to some kind of a political settlement".
"We appeal to everyone to give the facilitation process the space it requires, as government believes that only a political settlement will bring about a lasting and peaceful solution [in Zimbabwe]", Maseko said.
At a briefing in Pretoria earlier on Wednesday, Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad said that the South African government would do everything in its power and within the framework of the SADC facilitation process to assist the people of Zimbabwe to find a lasting solution to their current political challenges.
Also on Wednesday, former South African President Nelson Mandela – in London ahead of his 90th birthday celebration on July 18th - reportedly spoke out on the Zimbabwean crisis, with the BBC quoting him as saying that he saw a "tragic failure of leadership" in Zimbabwe.
Source: BuaNews
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