SA govt denies leaked report (15-08-07)

in the Southern Africa troubled country.

The presidency says the leaked report , if it exists, was not authored by the South Africa government .The report is allegedly said will to be presented by President Thabo Mbeki to the SADC Summit in Zambia on Friday after he was tasked by SADC leaders in March to mediate between MDC and the ruling party Zanu-PF.

“The Presidency has noted media reports citing aspects of what is claimed to arise from a leaked report, which President Thabo Mbeki will supposedly present to the Southern African Development Community Summit in Zambia this week.

“The Presidency wishes to make it clear that it is not aware of such a report and that if it exists, it was not authored by the Government of the Republic of South Africa ” the presidential spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga said.

A leaked report said to be confidential and authored by President Thabo Mbeki says “progress” has been made in talks between Mugabe’s ruling party and the opposition and a deal could be close.
“It seems there are no real substantive issues between the government and the (opposition) MDC. There are strong indications that the two sides are sliding towards an agreement,” the report says.

Asked by The Zimbabwean to comment on the progress Mukoni said: “This report talking about progress is not authored by us. We are just waiting for the SADC to speak on this by the end of the summit. We are just tasked by SADC to mediate and it is the one which will decide on what to communicate and who will communicate it, SADC or us”, he said

Mukoni Ratshitanga said the object of the process of facilitation of dialogue between the political leadership of Zimbabwe with which President Mbeki is engaged is to assist in finding a lasting solution to the political and economic situation in Zimbabwe .

“Accordingly, we would like to call on everyone including the media, to support the facilitation process. A critical part of support for the process is the communication of factual information about all aspects of the situation in Zimbabwe ”, he said


“While we endeavour to be transparent, cognisance should be taken of the fact that the facilitation process requires a measure of confidentiality to which all parties involved have committed themselves if it is to be successful” Ratshitanga said.

The report said Britain had a “death wish” on the dialogue between ZANU-PF and the MDC, which faces its own internal divisions.