Zim/SA in diplomatic tiff

In the clearest sign yet of growing tensions between Pretoria and Harare, the Zimbabwean government mouthpiece Sunday Mail said Zuma was erratic and an undesirable facilitator in the talks between President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

“President Jacob Zuma’s erratic behaviour is the stuff of legends,” the Sunday Mail said in an unusually harsh editorial by an official paper on Zuma, whose South Africa is Zimbabwes biggest trading partner and has helped Mugabe weather international pressure.

“The problem with Mr Zuma now is that his disconcerting behaviour has become a huge liability, not only to South Africa but also to the rest of the continent. Mr Zuma’s duplicity is astounding. With such leaders, Africa is in mortal danger,” the paper said.

The paper also accused Pretoria of supporting the Wests regime change agenda in Libya when it backed UN Resoultion 1973 that authorised NATOs ongoing campaign against Muammar Gaddafi.

The comments that the Sundial Mail would not have dared publish without first seeking government approval came after Zuma and other regional leaders strongly condemned political violence in Zimbabwe.

Zumas office promptly hit back rejecting assertions by the Sunday Mail that Pretoria had by supported the toppling of Gaddafi or foreign occupation of Libya and while maintaining relations between South Africa and Zimbabwe remain warm and cordial subtly told Harare to shut-up or observe diplomatic etiquette by communicating through official channels.

“Governments have their own channels of communication, and relations with Zimbabwe remain warm and cordial,” Zumas office said Sunday. “Should the Zimbabwean government wish to understand our position on Libya or any other, they will contact the South African government through the normal channels as they always do.”

Zuma last Thursday briefed a summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC)s security organ on Zimbabwes political deadlock.

The regional organ that comprises the leaders of Zambia, Mozambique and Namibia later issued a statement strongly condemning a political violence by Mugabes allies in the security forces against Tsvangirais supporters.

Reacting to the organs statement Mugabe on Friday said neither it, SADC nor the African Union could prescribe solutions to Zimbabwe.

He also made it clear that he would reject a roadmap to free and fair elections that Zuma as mediator was crafting for Zimbabwe, saying elections would be held in accordance only with the countrys Constitution and laws.

The Sunday Mail in its editorial questioned Zumas suitability to continue as mediator in Zimbabwe while a top member of Mugabes ZANU PF party, Jonathan Moyo, virtually called for his sacking as facilitator.

Moyo writing in the same paper said: (the mere fact that President Zuma of South Africa voted for the atrocities that the US and its NATO allies are committing in Libya under UN Resolution 1973 makes him an undesirable SADC facilitator on the political and security situation in Zimbabwe.

“Zuma can no longer be trusted if ever he was. The way that the SADC Troika is behaving on the Zimbabwean situation against the backdrop of how South Africa, Nigeria and Gabon voted with the African enemy on the UN Resolution 1973 against Libya, shows beyond doubt that the time has come for a major rethink in Zimbabwe on who are our friends are or should be.

Analysts say without backing from the SADC and other African countries Mugabe would not have been able to resist international pressure for so long.

But it remains to be seen whether the diplomatic tiff between Harare and Pretoria is sign that neighbouring countries are fed up with the veteran Zimbabwean leader and now considering withholding their crucial backing for him.