Welshman Ncube, leader of the smaller MDC, made the revelation during a recent tour of the Midlands district of Zhombe.
He told The Zimbabwean that Tanzanian President, Jakaya Kikwete, Namibia’s Hifikepunye Pohamba and Botswana’s Ian Khama, showed rare unity when they confronted Mugabe during the recent Maputo SADC summit and warned him against making unilateral decisions regarding the new constitution.
“The SADC leaders were firm on Mugabe in Maputo. Though he may not want that impression to be exposed, he is living with it right now,” Ncube said.
Khama told a state banquet for Zuma in Gaborone last week that nothing less than free and fair elections in Zimbabwe should be acceptable to the international community. SADC, as the guarantor of the GPA, must ensure transparency not only of the elections but also of the process leading to the polls, he said. Khama also stressed the need for SADC monitors as well as the wider international community to participate in observing the process “before, during and even after the elections.”
Meanwhile, Ncube rubbished the sentiment from some circles that his family relationship with Jacob Zuma, South African President and SADC facilitator, was influencing the facilitation process relating to the Zimbabwean crisis.
Zuma, whose daughter is married to Ncube’s son, was accused by former party president Authur Mutambara and some sections in Zanu (PF) of “taking sides with his relative in dealing with the Zimbabwean problems.”
During a recent visit Zuma refused to meet Mutambara and recognised Ncube as the leader of the MDC. Ncube said Mutambara’s complaint was irresponsible.
“President Zuma was not in Harare when a High Court application which sought to reverse the outcome of the congress which put me in leadership of MDC was dismissed,” he said.
“At the Maputo summit where the regional bloc took a position to the effect that Mutambara was no longer to be considered a principal of the MDC, Zuma was not there. So to say he is siding with me by refusing to recognise Mutambara as a leader of the MDC falls short of credence,” said Ncube.
“SADC is really at crossroads. It is time for the bloc to regroup and take Mugabe head-on. From the way in which the leaders deliberated at the last summit, I am very confident that this time around, Mugabe and Zanu (PF) will not succeed in violating the will of Zimbabweans,” he added.
Post published in: News