20110408
Zimbabwe Independent

Harare — PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is tightening the screws on President Robert Mugabe within the southern African region, further isolating him ahead of an anticipated extraordinary Sadc summit on Zimbabwe next month which could be a watershed meeting for the country.

This came as it emerged that Mugabe on Wednesday dispatched a top envoy to meet with Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika to "extinguish the fires" in the region.

"Mugabe's remarks have triggered serious tensions within Sadc," a senior Sadc diplomat said this week.

"The situation has degenerated into a regional crisis. Most leaders are very unhappy with what Mugabe said and want further measures to be taken against him. However, Mugabe understands the depth of the problem and has as a result sent one of his top advisors to Malawi on a fence-mending mission. Wa Mutharika, who is close to Mugabe and was married to a Zimbabwean, would now reach out to Sadc leaders and mediate. Zimbabwe's diplomats in the region are also fire-fighting."

Diplomats said Zimbabwean envoys in South Africa, Zambia, Mozambique and Namibia were working "very hard" to mend ruptured relations.

Before last year's Sadc summit in Namibia, Mugabe visited Wa Mutharika, who was then African Union chair. In the past Mugabe has clashed with a number of Sadc leaders, prominent among them former South African president Nelson Mandela, ex-Malawian leader Bakili Muluzi, the late Zambian president Levy Mwanawasa and Botswana President Ian Khama. Last week's clashes worsened his problems.

After crisscrossing the region recently and diplomatically out-manoeuvring Mugabe before last week's crucial Sadc Troika summit in Livingstone, Zambia, Tsvangirai did not rest on his laurels. He left yesterday for Lesotho and will be travelling to Angola today to brief leaders there on the Zimbabwe situation and lobby for support.

Tsvangirai in the past two weeks met with Zambian President Rupiah Banda, chair of the Sadc Troika of the organ on politics, defence and security, his deputy South African President Jacob Zuma, who is the facilitator in the Zimbabwean political dialogue, and Armando Guebuza of Mozambique, outgoing Troika chairman.

Tsvangirai also met current Sadc chair, Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba.

The premier met leaders of Tanzania and DRC as part of his regional trips. Tsvangirai has been telling Sadc leaders about his poisoned relations with Mugabe, renewed political repression and violence, arbitrary arrests and selective application of the law, and refusal to implement the Global Political Agreement (GPA) and its perpetual violations. He has also said Mugabe does not respect them.

Banda, Zuma, Guebuza and Pohamba attended last week's Troika meeting which drew up far-reaching resolutions and left Mugabe further isolated.

As Mugabe's row with Sadc leaders escalated, his spokesman George Charamba on Wednesday wrote a long article in the state-controlled Herald, distancing his boss from the Sunday Mail remarks. Charamba also issued a series of disclaimers, retractions and denials in the process, saying Mugabe was only complaining about procedures and not Sadc resolutions.

He, however, indicated Mugabe's discomfort with the new Sadc team which would work closely with the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee on issues relating to the GPA and Government of National Unity (GNU) and the return of Sadc facilitators on Zimbabwe, who are also Zuma's personal advisors.

Despite Mugabe's outrage, Sadc executive secretary Tomaz Salomao said Zimbabwe had not complained officially and Sadc was proceeding with its activities. Zuma's facilitators arrived on Wednesday and held meetings yesterday.

Mugabe caused the crisis by reacting angrily to the Sadc decisions, accusing regional leaders of meddling in his internal affairs and denouncing Zuma in the process.

"There is a line of thinking in Sadc that a body should be created to point certain things to us but Zimbabwe will not tolerate any group to prescribe to us what to do. Facilitators should facilitate, he cannot prescribe to us to do A, B, C, and D. We give ourselves the A, B, C, and D, in accordance with our agreement," Mugabe told his party's central committee last Friday, a day after the Sadc Troika summit.

Mugabe said Zuma could not tell him what to do.

"We will not brook any dictation from any source. We are a sovereign country. Even our neighbours cannot dictate to us. We will resist that," he said.

"The facilitator is the facilitator and must facilitate dialogue. He cannot prescribe anything. We prescribe what we should do in accordance with our laws and our agreement. "The (opposition) MDC thinks Sadc or the African Union can prescribe to us how we run our things."

Mugabe opened the floodgates for the government-controlled Sunday Mail and its columnists to insult Zuma and other Sadc leaders in unprecedented terms. The Sunday Mail, which reflects the views and thinking of Mugabe, his section of government and Zanu PF, described Zuma as a "dishonest broker", a surrogate of Western countries and "a huge liability, not only to South Africa but also to the rest of the continent".

"President Mugabe has clearly stated that President Zuma has no mandate to craft an election roadmap for Zimbabwe," the Sunday Mail claimed.

Mugabe's remarks and those by his loyalists in Zanu PF and the state media angered Zuma and Sadc leaders. Although Zuma has not spoken in public about Mugabe's statements, his office has said Zimbabwean leaders use the official channels of communication.