HARARE Scathing comments against South African President Jacob Zuma Zuma has finally realised that Zimbabwes political crisis threatens to have a greater impact on the whole region, analysts said this week. The tough stance taken by the recent SADC Troika saw Mugabe yelping insults against his erstwhile protectors. Within hours of him giving the signal, Zanu (PF)’s attack dogs, the state media and Jonathan Moyo, were barking at the ANC leader, suggesting he was no longer a suitable mediator.
Zuma’s spokesman has described Zanu (PF)s response as “nonsensical” and said his office was alarmed with what is going on in Zimbabwe. He urged Mugabe to use “official channels” to communicate his position.
The Troika resolved to send a team to Harare this week to take “appropriate action” and chart the roadmap to a free and fair election. It called for an immediate end to intimidation and legal harassment of the political opposition by Mugabe’s Zanu (PF), and hate speech by the state media.
An angry Mugabe told his Zanu (PF) Central Committee meeting on Friday that Zuma and his facilitation team “should not be dictators,” adding he brooked no interference in Zimbabwe’s internal processes and “our neighbours shouldn’t tell us what to do.”
Zuma, fearing a slide by the rand against the dollar, pound, and euro, stepped up the official rhetoric sharply, saying Zimbabwe must not be allowed to slide back to 2008.
Several counters on the JSE lost ground after Mugabe unilaterally gazetted regulations nationalising the mining sector. This political uncertainty means investors are cautious and FDI has dried up. The resultant liquidity challenges have hit the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange very hard.
There are also mounting fears that Mugabe’s so-called “empowerment” drive could spark an explosion in South Africa over the slow pace of mining ownership reform in that country, and its consequences would be “too ghastly to contemplate”.
“The situation has become untenable when it is seen that the highest office in the land seems to support intimidation of the political opposition, beating up of people, arrests of government ministers and so on,” said a SADC diplomat in Harare.
Economic analysts said that Zuma and his Troika’s stand last week had helped strengthen the rand.
A few days earlier, Zuma had reportedly told Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai that his efforts to avoid collapse in South Africa’s northern neighbour and biggest trading partner had failed, and the crisis was threatening the entire region.
He promised Tsvangirai robust action, and he delivered, according to a source close to the talks. Tsvangirai reportedly told Zuma that if he was arrested, Zuma could kiss the troubled two-year unity government goodbye, days after the establishment was shaken by the arrest of Energy Minister, Elton Mangoma, who was freed from remand prison on Monday after spending almost two weeks behind bars.
Zuma, like his predecessor Thabo Mbeki has come under fire in the past for taking a neutral stand on Mugabe, but his plan to arrest the Prime Minister in what is seen as a plot to block Zimbabwe’s political transition from dictatorship to democracy was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Hardliners in the security forces wanted Tsvangirai arrested for disparaging remarks he made earlier last month about Zimbabwes Supreme Court judges who handed down a ruling effectively dismissing MDC Speaker of Parliament, Lovemore Moyo. Tsvangirai clawed back the seat in an election that buoyed his party.
Top South African and MDC officials have repeatedly said Zuma did not tolerate Mugabe’s repression, but the absence of strong condemnation of Zimbabwe’s tyrant had undermined his credibility. Political analysts said the SA government was becoming more worried about the likelihood of an influx of refugees from Zimbabwe.
Post published in: News