SA opposition demands Mbeki probe

BY CHIEF REPORTER

HARARE

South Africa’s opposition Democratic Alliance has called for a parliamentary discussion on Zimbabwe’s worsening human rights violations and the drawn out post election  crisis.

DA parliamentary leader Sandra Botha moved a motion in the South African Parliament Tuesday on the post-election crisis in Zimbabwe, and “more specifically, probing President Mbeki and the South African government’s distinct lack of action on the matter.”

Her comments echo those of a variety of prominent leaders who have demanded stronger condemnation of the actions of Robert Mugabe’s military junta.

With Zimbabwe’s MDC complaining that ZEC has fraudulently allocated 87,000 votes cast for Morgan Tsvangirai to Simba Makoni, there is pressure on South Africa to play a greater role in ensuring that the stand off is resolved, in contrast to the March 2002 presidential election which was panned by some observers as “daylight robbery”.

Botha has also taken up the issue with a representative of SA Minister of Foreign Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, presenting a letter detailing a series of DA proposals to help bring about an end the post-election violence and the political stalemate in Zimbabwe.

“If the Zimbabwean government failed to meet these demands, we proposed that South Africa pursue more stringent measures – such as imposing targeted travel and financial sanctions on Zanu ((PF))’s ruling elite, calling for an international arms embargo on the country, and condemning publicly both Mugabe and his government for their refusal to adhere to the mandate of the Zimbabwean people,” Botha said.

“Yet despite having received these proposals, and regardless of the overwhelming number of continued calls from regional and international bodies and political leaders for South Africa to take a principled and decisive stance on this urgent matter, our government – following the example of President Mbeki’s unrelenting state of denial – has yet to respond to the crisis in any significant way.”

Human Rights Watch said last week that “in Zimbabwe, the run off is likely to unfold in a climate of repression and intimidation”.

It said pressure should be placed on leaders of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) to push Mugabe to ensure a free and fair run off.

The organisation said “the human rights situation in Zimbabwe continues to be of grave concern (and) the government continues to use (its) laws to suppress criticism of government and public debate”.

There have been indications recently that the African National Congress (ANC) is turning up the volume of its “quiet diplomacy”.

Last week, ANC leader Jacob Zuma expressed criticism of the Zimbabwean political climate. He said the ANC “have been concerned about several things” and had put pressure on Zanu ((PF)) to strictly adhere to the Sadc election protocol.

Former Truth and Reconciliation Commission chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu also made headlines when he noted Zimbabwe’s human rights abuses and asked whether government’s “quiet diplomacy” approach to Zimbabwe was working.

Other prominent leaders, including Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi, have raised their concerns over human rights abuses in Zimbabwe.

Although the tripartite alliance of the ANC, Cosatu and South African Communist Party says that it has reached broad agreement on issues including Zimbabwe, this could be tested by ZEC’s alleged electoral fraud.