DA wants Mugabe barred from elections

The DA last week called on South African President Jacob Zuma, appointed by regional leaders to mediate in Zimbabwe, to work out a plan to compel Mugabe to quit politics, describing the Zimbabwean leader as a cancerous tumour that needed to be expunged from his countrys politics. If President Zuma is to make any real, sustainable gains in mediating the Zimbabwean situation, President Robert Mugabe must be barred from participating in any future elections, said Athol Trollip, the DAs parliamentary leader.

He added: His (Mugabe) role in the current impasse is like a cancerous tumour that needs to be expunged from the Zimbabwean body politic. The only solution is to cut him out — thereby removing the influence of the tyrannical regime he represents, and creating the opportunity for change to flood the country he has controlled for three decades. The DA that is among Mugabes most vocal critics said the veteran President and his supporters in the security establishment have continued to harass and persecute political opponents despite formation of a unity government with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara.

The opposition party accused Zuma of failure to rein in Mugabe whose controversial policies it said were beginning to spill over to South Africa a clear reference to increasing calls by some prominent members of Zumas ruling ANC party for Pretoria to implement Zimbabwe-style land reforms. Trollip said: Opposition members continue to be harassed, intimidated and brutalised, while the state continues to clamp down on detractors and violence is also on the ascendancy.

By refusing to tackle Mugabes regime on the policies that have led to a national food crisis, violence, disease, political and economic instability, President Zuma has opened the door for such dangerous discussions to be initiated in South Africa – with potentially devastating long term economic repercussions. Mugabes land reforms that he says were necessary to correct a colonial land ownership system that reserved the best land for whites and banished blacks to poor soils, are blamed for plunging Zimbabwe into food shortages after he failed to support black villagers resettled on former white farms with inputs to maintain production.

The DA urged Zuma to adopt a more robust approach towards Mugabe. Do not let the lore of Mugabe dictate the fate of his country, and our own, the party said. Zuma — who before his ascendancy to the South African presidency spoke out openly against Mugabe — has struggled to make the Zimbabwean leader fulfill his commitments under the power-sharing agreement with Tsvangirai and Mutambara.