 Zimbabwean Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, earlier said President Thabo Mbeki has failed to solve the political crisis ahead of elections next month and should end his policy of quiet diplomacy.Pahad has told a media briefing at Parliament that all five substantive issues at the heart of the mediation process have been accepted by all parties.
“It will be good to ask the question, not to us, but to one of the MDC parties, if the mediation has failed. He (Tsvangirai) will have to explain to SADC and everybody what he means by ‘the mediation has failed’… All the parties are now… preparing for elections… If the mediation has failed, it is difficult for me to understand why everybody is preparing for elections,” said Pahad.
MDC Urges Mbeki to be ‘tough’ on Mugabe
Tsvangirai earlier called on Mbeki to adopt a tough stance in dealing with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.”We need to see a little courage from Mr Thabo Mbeki … he can break with his policy of quiet support of the dictatorship in Zimbabwe,” Tsvangirai told journalists in South Africa.Mbeki has been mediating talks between Mugabe’s government and the MDC, which says he has not been tough enough on the veteran leader. Mugabe is accused of clamping down on opponents and rigging recent polls to stay in power.
Tsvangirai said Zimbabwe’s growing political and economic problems ahead of presidential, parliamentary and council elections on March 29 could overwhelm South Africa as it prepared to host the 2010 soccer World Cup.”He owes it to our common African humanity, he owes it to his own legacy, he owes it to his own people, he owes it to those (Zimbabweans) who are streaming across the river looking for jobs (and) security in the towns here in South Africa,” said Tsvangirai.
Mugabe denies rigging votes since 2000 and says his party will secure a landslide poll victory next month to silence the MDC and shame Western critics that he says are funding his opponents.
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