(HERALD) Sadc backs Zim: Mbeki
Sadc backs Zim: MbekiNews Editor
SADC will not act as a superpower and expropriate the right of Zimbabweans to determine their destiny, South African President Thabo Mbeki has said.
The regional trading bloc’s executive secretary Dr Tomaz Salamao reiterated that sanctions were the cause of the economic challenges in the country, and quashed rumours that his report on Zimbabwe recommends the pegging of the Zimbabwe dollar to the rand.
In his weekly letter in ANC Today, the South African ruling party’s online publication, Mr Mbeki said the just-ended Sadc summit in Zambia reaffirmed the region’s support for Zimbabwe and any initiative to help must be made with respect for Harare’s sovereignty.
"The Lusaka Summit meeting reconfirmed these fundamental positions, which include unqualified respect for the sovereignty of Zimbabwe and the right of its people to determine their destiny. At no point will Sadc and its member-states act as a superpower that has the right to expropriate the people of Zimbabwe of their right to self-determination, as imperial Britain did," Mr Mbeki said.
He blasted the South African media for fabricating lies about events at the summit by claiming that Sadc leaders were divided over the report on the state of the Zimbabwean economy produced by the Sadc Secretariat.
Mr Mbeki said the South African Business Day newspaper on Monday last week published a wholly-fabricated story alleging that Sadc leaders were divided over this report, describing a discussion at the summit that never took place.
"This is consistent with an unethical practice in sections of our media in terms of which they manufacture news and information and communicate complete fiction as the truth. The newspaper manufactured an unbridgeable ‘rift’ resulting in a non-existent paralysis among the leaders, arising out of the discussion that never took place," Mr Mbeki said.
The report prepared by the Sadc Secretariat in this regard says: "The restoration of the country’s foreign exchange generating capacity through balance of payments support is crucial; however, the most urgent action that is needed to start this process is to establish lines of credit to enable Zimbabwe to import inputs for its productive sectors, particularly for agriculture and foreign currency generating sectors.
"Sadc should do all it can to help Zimbabwe address the issue of sanctions, which is not only hurting the economy through failure to get BoP (balance of payments) support and lines of credit, but also through reduced markets for its products. Sanctions also damage the image of Zimbabwe, causing a severe blow to her tourist sector.
"Zimbabwe, on her part, must continue to implement robust policies to reduce the overvaluation of the exchange rate, to reduce the budget deficit and to control the growth of domestic credit and money supply which fuel inflation, and to reduce price distortions in the economy. Equally important is the need to avoid frequent changes in policy initiatives, which have caused uncertainties and led to the view that the policy environment is unpredictable." Mr Mbeki said, acting on the recommendation of the Sadc Organ on Politics, Defence and Security, the Sadc summit accepted the report on the Zimbabwean economy.
It also accepted the organ’s proposal that Sadc Finance Ministers -- in consultation with the Government of Zimbabwe --- should use the report to elaborate specific interventions that could be made by the region to help Harare.
"The hostile allegation that our countries have recklessly turned their eyes away from the problems of Zimbabwe, because of the imperatives of solidarity, has always been nothing more than a product of propaganda, which all thinking persons would recognise as such.
"The reality is that in a very real sense the problems of Zimbabwe are our problems, in the same way that the problems of the rest of Southern Africa are problems for Zimbabwe as well. Our entire region stands to benefit most directly from the recovery of Zimbabwe, in much the same way as Zimbabwe benefits from the progress of the region of Southern Africa, of which it is an integral and inalienable part," President Mbeki said.
The Lusaka summit approved the urgent initiation of a process that would identify the measures that the Sadc region should take to assist in the economic recovery of Zimbabwe.
Speaking to journalists in Gaborone, Botswana, last week, Mr Salamao said the report on economic solutions for Zimbabwe would remain under wraps,
He quashed rumours emerging after last week’s summit in Lusaka, denying he had suggested Zimbabwe’s neighbours should pump money into the country’s economy, or that its currency be pinned to the South African rand.
"I have never suggested that money be pumped into the Zimbabwean Reserve Bank as a rescue plan," he told reporters.
"I have also heard rumours that in my report I have suggested that the Zimbabwean dollar be pegged to the South African rand as a way of rescuing the situation. That is not true."
He did, however, say his report recommended that Sadc member states come up with ways to help Zimbabwe, and that finance ministers had been tasked with working with Zimbabwe and offering solutions for its problems.
The contents of the report have remained a closely guarded secret, and will remain so until further notice.
"I will make it available to the Finance Ministers of Sadc for now. Now is not the right time to make the document public. It will be made public at some stage, but not now," Mr Salamao said.
He said that when compiling his report he found that despite the problems it is facing, Zimbabwe’s economy remained a viable one.
"It is one economy that is operating with sanctions, although the European Union claims that their sanctions are targeting some 130 individuals. If you tell the world do not trust those who are running the economy, what message are you sending?
"Zimbabwe’s economy currently has no access to soft loans and lines of credit. They operate only on hard cash. You cannot run an economy that way," Mr Salamao said.
Labels: SADC, THE HERALD, ZIMBABWE
posted by MrK @ 3:58 AM
1 Comments:
"Sadc should do all it can to help Zimbabwe address the issue of sanctions, which is not only hurting the economy through failure to get BoP (balance of payments) support and lines of credit, but also through reduced markets for its products. Sanctions also damage the image of Zimbabwe, causing a severe blow to her tourist sector.
Gee, I guess Zimbabwe is under sanctions after all.
I wonder when this fact will be reported on the BBC.
"The hostile allegation that our countries have recklessly turned their eyes away from the problems of Zimbabwe, because of the imperatives of solidarity, has always been nothing more than a product of propaganda, which all thinking persons would recognise as such.
Propaganda paid for by who, I wonder?
"The reality is that in a very real sense the problems of Zimbabwe are our problems, in the same way that the problems of the rest of Southern Africa are problems for Zimbabwe as well. Our entire region stands to benefit most directly from the recovery of Zimbabwe, in much the same way as Zimbabwe benefits from the progress of the region of Southern Africa, of which it is an integral and inalienable part," President Mbeki said.
He quashed rumours emerging after last week’s summit in Lusaka, denying he had suggested Zimbabwe’s neighbours should pump money into the country’s economy, or that its currency be pinned to the South African rand.
Pinning the Zimbabwe currency to the South African Rand? I heard that before, from anonymous.
"It is one economy that is operating with sanctions, although the European Union claims that their sanctions are targeting some 130 individuals. If you tell the world do not trust those who are running the economy, what message are you sending?
"Zimbabwe’s economy currently has no access to soft loans and lines of credit. They operate only on hard cash. You cannot run an economy that way," Mr Salamao said.
So at least now, everyone except the MDC and the BBC are admitting that Zimbabwe is under sanctions.
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