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(TALKZIMBABWE) Tsvangirai blocking progress: Zuma

Tsvangirai blocking progress: Zuma
Ralph Mutema/AFP
Sat, 16 Jan 2010 13:41:00 +0000

SOUTH AFRICAN President Jacob Zuma says Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai must be flexible in his demands and his party is blocking the progress of talks aimed at resolving the Zimbabwean impasse.

PM Tsvangirai is demanding the removal of Attorney General Johannes Tomana and Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono saying their appointments were unconstitutional.

Are these issues “so fundamental that we cannot move without” resolving them? Zuma said today in an interview broadcast on state-owned SAFM in Johannesburg. “Can we park them and proceed?”

The parties will seek to resolve their differences at talks due to begin tomorrow in the capital, Harare.

President Zuma said today he was “positive and hopeful” of progress in the negotiation.

“I’m sure the Zimbabweans have to open up and look at the issues from all angles,” he said.

Decade of Recession

The establishment of the inclusive Government in February followed a decade of sanctions-induced recession and political turmoil, which slashed exports, pushed inflation to a record and drove millions of Zimbabweans into exile in neighbouring countries.

Western powers led by Britain and the United States imposed illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe over a bilateral dispute between Britain and Zimbabwe. Britain reneged on its obligation to compensate white farmers after agreements at Lancaster House in London that saw a negotiated settlement for Zimbabwe.

The MDC-T party is also demanding the power to appoint some regional governors and wants President Mugabe to swear in convicted criminal and former Rhodesian Front policeman Roy Bennett, currently on trial for terrorism-related charges, as deputy agriculture minister.

Bennett is a former Selous Scout, a notorious white extremist group responsible for the killing of thousands of black Zimbabweans during the liberation struggle.

President Mugabe’s Zanu PF party has accused the MDC-T of reneging on its commitment to persuade the U.S. and European Union to lift sanctions against Zimbabwe. The party, for a decade, actively campaigned for the imposition of ruinous illegal sanctions against Zimbabwe.

The party has also encouraged hate messages to be broadcast into Zimbabwe through pirate radio stations. The MDC-T leadership still appears on these radio stations despite signing an agreement to stop such broadcasts.

Labels: GLOBAL POLITICAL AGREEMENT, JACOB ZUMA, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI

posted by MrK @ 9:20 PM