Zimbabwe Is a Closed Chapter South Africa Tells United Nations, to Inform SADC

A South African government handout photo shows the-then Southern African Development Community (SADC) chairman, South African President Jacob Zuma (L), hugging Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on June 20, 2009 in Johannesburg., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Zimbabwe, a closed chapter. . . South Africa tells UN, to inform Sadc

August 14, 2013
Tendai Mugabe Senior Reporter
Zimbabwe Herald

SOUTH AFRICA has told the United Nations that Zimbabwe is neither an issue for discussion within Sadc nor at the United Nations in the wake of the widely endorsed harmonised elections, with President Jacob Zuma set to inform the 33rd Ordinary Sadc Summit that convenes in Lilongwe, Malawi, over the weekend that his job in Zimbabwe was done.

Cde Zuma was appointed facilitator to the Global Political Agreement in September 2008, taking over from Cde Thabo Mbeki whom he also succeeded at Union Buildings, the seat of the SA government.

South African International Relations Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane told UN General Assembly President Mr Vuk Jeremic during a meeting in Pretoria on Monday that South Africa had already endorsed the harmonised elections and congratulated President Mugabe on his re-election.

“There is absolutely nothing new to discuss on Zimbabwe. The parties that did not win the elections have approached the highest court in Zimbabwe.

“We will all wait for the outcome of the court process. All the observer missions have said the elections were peaceful and free. We have already made our own national statement on the elections in Zimbabwe,’’ Ms Nkoana-Mashabane said in response to Mr Jeremic’s request for an update on the situation in Zimbabwe.

Ms Nkoana-Mashabane’s comments follow an announcement by the South African presidency that Cde Zuma would inform Sadc that his job as mediator in Zimbabwe was done.

City Press on Monday quoted an unnamed official in the SA Presidency as saying President Zuma’s role was over and he would officially inform Sadc leaders in Lilongwe.

“As far as South Africa is concerned, we have ended mediation in Zimbabwe,” said the source.

The source said the final Sadc report would also uphold the credibility of the elections that he said were free and peaceful.

“The summit’s final report will say something to the effect that all parties must give internal processes a chance to run their recourse.

“No external audit of the results will be accepted by Sadc,” the source said in apparent reference to MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai’s call for an audit of the results, a call echoed by the US, Britain, its dominion Australia and client state Botswana who are all ranged against the UN, AU, Sadc, Comesa, ACP, 22 AU member-states, among them 11 drawn from Sadc; eight Asian states, five Middle Eastern countries, two European states, and five South American countries have all endorsed the harmonised elections.

This has put MDC-T and its Western conceivers and funders on one side and Zimbabwe and the progressive world on another side, mirroring the contestation in Zimbabwe over the past 13 years.

President Mugabe romped to victory, garnering 61,09 percent of the votes cast to Mr Tsvangirai’s 33,94 percent with three other contestants — Professor Welshman Ncube (MDC), Dr Dumiso Dabengwa (Zapu) and Mr Kisinoti Mukwazhe (ZDP) — sharing the remaining 4,97 percent.

Zanu-PF also swept 160 seats out of the 210 National Assembly constituencies to MDC-T’s 49 with the remaining seat going to independent candidate Mr Jonathan Samukange who pitched for but failed to land the Zanu-PF ticket in Mudzi South.

Political analyst and Zanu-PF Politburo member Professor Jonathan Moyo said South Africa was just re-stating the obvious.

“They (South Africans) are stating the obvious. It is the true position that must be respected by all countries and all parties.

“That is the actual position that the whole process of mediation and engagement was going to end in the holding of elections.

“We have not only held elections which have been convincingly won by Zanu-PF, but these elections have been judged as credible by all credible organisations.

“The occasion was not just momentous, but historic. Zimbabweans have spoken in large numbers and reclaimed and reasserted their independence.”

The elections, he said, had buried the GPA and were not disputed.

“This is not a disputed election.

“The numbers are overwhelming and one has to be an extreme malcontent to describe the elections as disputed.”