threatening Zimbabwe's year-old unity government to the African Union - the
guarantors of the power-sharing agreement. Senior South African government
officials yesterday said Zuma had prepared a report on Zimbabwe, which will
be presented to the summit already underway in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Zuma is reportedly getting impatient with the continued bickering and delays
in resolving issues around appointments, and has suggested that the parties
should "park" some of the contentious issues and work towards fresh
elections next year.
Saul Kgomotso Molobi, a senior official in South Africa's Department of
International Relations and Co-operation confirmed that Zuma would put
Zimbabwe on the agenda.
"The President as the mediator will give a report on the facilitation in
Zimbabwe," Molobi told The Standard yesterday.
"I cannot get into the details, as he has not made the presentation yet."
Zuma's spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya said the report will appraise the
heads of state and government on South Africa's mediation.
The report comes at a time when the talks are currently deadlocked and hopes
for a resolution of outstanding issues are disappearing.
Negotiations were supposed to resume 10 days ago, but they were deferred
until February 8 after the parties failed to find common ground.
Zanu PF and the MDC-T have been trading accusations over who is responsible
for the collapse of the talks, now threatening the inclusive government.
On Wednesday, the Zanu PF politburo met in Harare and resolved not to "make
any further concessions" to the two MDC formations until sanctions imposed
by Western countries on its leaders are removed.
This position was adopted at the party's congress in December last year, and
appeared to have been bolstered by recent statements by British Foreign
Secretary David Miliband on sanctions. But the MDC-T also blames Zanu PF
because of its intransigence on fully implementing the GPA.
* The Standard
