'No amount of money would buy Levy to go against Mugabe'

'No amount of money would buy Levy to go against Mugabe'
By Lambwe Kachali
Friday June 06, 2008 [04:00]

CHIEF government spokesperson Mike Mulongoti has described reports by the Zimbabwean media that some SADC leaders blocked President Levy Mwanawasa's attempts to convene a meeting on Zimbabwe in Tokyo prior to the runoff as malicious and unfounded. And foreign affairs minister Kabinga Pande said no amount of money would buy President Mwanawasa to go against Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.

Reacting to stories in the Herald and Chronicle newspapers of June 2 which indicated that some Southern African Development Community (SADC) heads of state blocked President Mwanawasa from convening a special meeting to review political developments in Zimbabwe prior to the forthcoming presidential runoff at the just-ended Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) summit, Mulongoti said the statement was wrong and misleading.

Mulongoti said President Mwanawasa, as SADC chairman in fact, did convene the meeting with SADC leaders.

He said among those who attended the consultative meeting were King Mswati III of Swaziland, Malawi's Bingu Wa Mutharika, Tanzania's Jakaya Kikwete, Mozambique's Armando Guebuza and Namibia's Hifikepunye Pohamba.

"Others were South African President Thabo Mbeki, Vice-President of Botswana, as well as the prime ministers of Lesotho and Angola as well as foreign ministers of Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar and Zimbabwe," Mulongoti said.
He said during the meeting, President Mwanawasa reminded the heads of state and governments about the resolutions that were passed at the SADC extraordinary summit held in Lusaka in April this year.

"It was unfortunate to observe that during this consultative meeting, some leaders concentrated on a procedural debate with the Zimbabwe minister of foreign affairs by referring to the Dar-es-Salaam organ summit in March, 2008 during which President Mbeki of South Africa was mediator to resolve the political impasse in Zimbabwe, instead of giving an update on the electoral process in Zimbabwe as was expected," he said.

Mulongoti said President Mwanawasa proposed that some SADC observer mission be sent to Zimbabwe to monitor the runoff without delay.

He said it was not proper for some members to allow bureaucratic considerations to derail efforts that were aimed at finding a solution to end the political problems in Zimbabwe.

"It must be realised that Zambia, through President Mwanawasa's leadership was among the countries that were against the isolation of Zimbabwe by the western world. As we may recall, Zambia has made several attempts to advise some government leaders in Zimbabwe to stop the uncalled for attacks on President Mwanawasa and his administration as well as the protest through a note by the ministry of foreign affairs. President Mwanawasa found it difficult to reconcile with his conscience when some heads of state and government spoke at length deliberating on the procedural debate and consequently ended the meeting inconclusively," said Mulongoti.

And Pande refuted allegations that President Mwanawasa had received money from some western countries to hold the Lusaka SADC summit and a consultative meeting in Tokyo.
Pande said it was not correct that President Mwanawasa had also threatened to resign as SADC chairman after his alleged move was blocked by other leaders as reported in the Zimbabwean media.

"I was at the meeting and nothing like what was reported in the two newspapers happened. The meeting was held and one of the urgent issues that were discussed was sending of SADC observer mission to Zimbabwe. President Mwanawasa does not need to be paid for him to execute his duties SADC chairman. Our interest in Zimbabwe is to ensure that harmony and peace prevails after the run-off," said Pande.

According to the Herald and Chronicle newspapers, diplomatic sources said President Mwanawasa was blocked from convening the consultative meeting by other regional leaders.

The papers reported that President Mwanawasa threatened to resign after he was blocked but that SADC leaders described the Zambian President's move as unnecessary and improper because the Zimbabwean issue was being handled by the regional body with President Mbeki as mediator.