ZUMA OR VAVI MAY REPLACE "FAILED" MBEKI!

Zimbabwe: Diaspora calls for Zuma's mediation

May 07, 2007 03:59 PM     http://www.africanpath.com/p_blogEntry.cfm?blogEntryID=708

Zimbabwean Civic Society Organisations have cast their support behind the sacked South African vice president Jacob Zuma, to take over in mediation efforts between rival parties in Zimbabwe. .   The ruling ZANU PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change are scheduled for talks as both the country and the region fight to find the lasting solutions in the nine years old economic and political crisis which is now affecting the region.   Political analysts and some senior academics have already ruled out Mbeki's efforts under SADC's commands in mediation as a failure since both parties have already set conditions that are extreme to agree on. The MDC is calling for a new democratic people driven constitution to be in place before elections are held to ensure a level operation ground in less than ten months.   The ruling ZANU PF has also called the MDC to accept Mugabe's legitimacy as a condition for talks which the opposition would not risk doing as that would give Mugabe all the leverage to say the MDC's claims of flawed elections were unrealistic which might see sanctions given to Mugabe and his close associates being lifted.   The call by civic society comes over a month after the Zimbabwe Action Movement called for either Zuma or Vavi to mediate the ZANU PF/MDC talks as Mbeki has proved to be a dishonest broker who favours the Zimbabwe's lifetime president.   The Zimbabwe Political Victims Association (ZIPOVA),General Secretary, Oliver Kubikwa said, his organization backed the African National Congress's deputy president, Jacob Zuma as he has proved to be a man who fight for the cause of the poor.   What Zimbabwe needs now is not a mediator with an intention of business interests or gaining a regional political mileage but someone who can pull over three quarters of Zimbabweans (about 80%) from below the poverty datum line and that can be done by Zuma as he advocates for the cause of the poor even in South Africa, added Kubikwa.   South Africa's Communists Party, Blade Ndzimande recently questioned Mbeki's efforts in mediating Zimbabwean talks saying he was part and parcel of the crisis with his quite diplomacy. Ndzimande added that Mbeki's foreign policy was an extension of the domestic policy which is against the uplift mend of the poor whilst continuously empowering the rich.   Ndzimande's claims were recently supported by the Finance minister Trevor Manuel's comment on the workers day, when he said the gap between the rich and poor will continue to widen as the market grows. Manuel is one of Mbeki's trusted cabinet ministers.   You can not expect president Mbeki to be an honest broker in the Zimbabwean crisis which is hitting hard on the poor as he also does not stand for the poor back home, said Ndzimande addressing a gathering of Zimbabwe and South African civic groups.   The Zimbabwe Exiles Forum Director, Advocate Gabriel Shumba added that what Zimbabwe needs now is someone who puts historical achievements behind and concentrates on the present scenario facing the citizens. Few African leaders up to date have managed to call a spade a spade on the Zimbabwean crisis, only Zambia's Levy Mwanawasa and the outgoing Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo have managed to confront Mugabe.   The Congress of South Africa Trade Union's General Secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi, also said capitalists in South Africa have in the past exploited poor Zimbabweans in their security and hotel industries and said a mediator who is anti-capitalism could bring that to an end as soon as the Zimbabwean crisis is rectified.   Jacob Zuma was recently reported to have met a European Union delegation to discuss the Zimbabwean crisis and South Africa's succession debate. Political activist and MDC's North West district organizing secretary Joshua Rusere said that might be a move by European governments to pursue Zuma to change South Africa's approach in handling the Zimbabwean crisis should he be elected as the next ANC president.

 

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