Tsvangirai’s spokesman George Sibotshiwe, told us from Johannesburg on
Friday that they had communicated this to Mbeki this week in a letter handed
to his point man Sydney Mufamadi, by Tendai Biti, the secretary-general of
the MDC.
‘Mufamadi met with Biti who officially informed him that we are unhappy with
their mediation process. We’ve since informed SADC and the African Union of
our position,’ Sibotshiwe said.
Mbeki flew into Harare on Friday for talks with Robert Mugabe, amid the
growing political impasse following the announcement of the presidential
results last week. Mbeki held intensive talks with Mugabe over the country’s
post-election crisis as doctors reported a dramatic rise in violence. The
talks at State House lasted for more than three hours before Mbeki left for
the South African embassy in Harare without making any comment to reporters.
Following a visit to Harare last month, Mbeki came under heavy criticism for
saying Zimbabwe was not in crisis. Mbeki has followed a policy of ‘quiet
diplomacy’ that has not helped the volatile situation after the March 29th
elections.
Tsvangirai has called for Mbeki to step aside and for SADC to expand the
mediation efforts. Sibotshiwe said no one from the MDC would be meeting
Mbeki in Harare and he indicated their party had requested SADC and the AU
to appoint a permanent envoy to deal with the crisis.
‘I think what the country needs now is an envoy whose job will be to go
through this mediation thoroughly on a day to day basis. As you are aware,
President Mbeki does this mediation on a part-time basis as he’s a Head of
State,’ Sibotshiwe said.
He gave an example of Kenya where the problems there were solved after the
United Nations and the AU appointed Koffi Annan as mediator. He was
permanently based in Nairobi during the whole period of negotiations.
Post published in: News