Diplomats said South Africa was beginning to acknowledge that ordinary people in Zimbabwe need help to depose their leader. Amid grinding poverty, political and military rulers in Zimbabwe have enriched themselves at the expense of their countrymen.
And this cabal is threatening once again to disrespect the wishes of the people if any other leader other than Mugabe is elected. Those who have tried to advance the cause of democracy have been beaten up or detained.
In recent weeks, analysts say, the JOC has effectively vetoed several government initiatives, including agreement to implement the outstanding 24 issues in the global political agreement that gave birth to the GNU.
It has ordered the arrests of senior MDC officials and banned MDC meetings in apparent breach of Cabinet directives. They point to the arrest of minister of State in the PM's office, Jameson Timba, and threats made against the person of Finance minister Tendai Biti by war veterans, who barricaded him his office threatening to manhandle him for “defying Mugabe”.
The JOC has also shown open disdain for the MDC factions in the coalition. A military brigadier general has said Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is a danger to national security and cannot be allowed to take over power.
Mugabe's spokesman George Charamba wrote in a weekly column in the state-controlled Herald newspaper, that "brigadier general Douglas Nyikayaramba was a general with an army," suggesting he had full backing of securocrats and that he spoke on behalf of the JOC.
This “fifth column,” according to political analyst Ibbo Mandaza, is hell-bent on frustrating the MDC factions into quitting the GNU.
“To put it simply, there is a fifth column within the Zimbabwean state, purporting both to represent the ‘securocrats’ who are opposed to the MDC and its involvement in the GNU and reflect mainstream Zanu (PF) thinking,” Mandaza said.
Diplomatic sources say President Jacob Zuma's facilitation team has been instructed to depart from its usual diplomatic parlance and to confront Mugabe and the JOC's escalating repression.
In the process, Zuma has placed himself at odds with his predecessor, President Thabo Mbeki, who publicly embraced Mugabe in a futile effort to end a wave of violence in advance of the 2008 elections.
Zanu (PF) spindoctor Jonathan Moyo has complained that Zuma was taking sides with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC party. Analysts say Zuma has been even handed and handled the mediation without bias, but with a firm hand that threatens Mugabe's hold on power. It is the endgame for Zanu (PF), they say.
She has insisted on security sector reforms that have shaken Zanu (PF) to the core. And that includes a plan to retire the partisan chief of police and the head of the army. Tsvangirai has said the securocrats should take off their uniforms and square off with him in the political arena.
And a recent rally in Gweru, Tsvangirai told his supporters that the people will have to end this. He said the people had the power and capacity to end the tyranny that has oppressed them for years.
He said it was a lesson of history that people power can topple tyrants "and I am confident that you have the capacity to do so," Tsvangirai said. Asked whether the remarks were directed at Mugabe, he replied: "Everybody knows who I am talking about."
Zulu has defiantly told Zanu (PF) that Zuma is not bothered with statements made outside the mediation process and will not be bothered by the ranting of Zanu (PF) officials. Zulu has said the mediation team will be guided by the position taken at the SADC summit.
A Southern African diplomat said: "Lindiwe Zulu is no doubt espousing Zuma's view. He has explained his position that he wants the GPA fully implemented and the roadmap followed. He doesn't want to see another 2008.”
"She is free to say what everybody feels. She is President Zuma's foreign policy advisor. Do not underestimate how tough Zuma is in private talks with Mugabe," the official told The Zimbabwean.
"Zuma's mediation style is clearly in contrast with the pronouncements and show of friendship toward the Zimbabwean leader by Mbeki," the diplomat said.
Asked how he viewed Zuma's robustness in handling Zimbabwe's convoluted mediation, he said, "Zuma has always been his own man and at times a bit of a loose cannon."
Reports of a feud between Zuma and Mugabe have long been whispered. A Tsvangirai aide who sat in on a recent meeting between Zuma and Tsvangirai at the SA president’s rural home in KwaZulu Natal said, "He (Zuma) thinks Mugabe now despises the very people who put him in power, and he think it is his privilege to be there for eternity".
Post published in: Africa News