Mediator Mbeki meets Mugabe on Zimbabwe crisis

[struggle4progress]

Source: Reuters

By MacDonald Dzirutwe

HARARE (Reuters) - South African leader Thabo Mbeki and President Robert Mugabe held talks on Friday on Zimbabwe's election crisis ahead of a possible run-off that has raised fears violence could escalate.

Mbeki, whose softly-softly mediation in Zimbabwe's crisis has drawn criticism at home and abroad, met Mugabe for three hours. Their talks came a day before the opposition MDC was to announce whether it would take part in a second round ...

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telephoned the presidents of three southern African states -- Botswana, Zambia and Tanzania -- on Friday to urge them to help end the Zimbabwe deadlock.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack did not say why Rice did not telephone Mbeki ...



Read more: http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKL0992050420080510

[Nutmegger]

1. Mbeki needs to go.

He has been disappointing dealing with this crisis.

If there's a runoff vote, I fear for the MDC supporters in the rural areas. They are already being targeted by Mugabe's gangs. Fuck Mugabe and Zanu-PF!

I have a friend whose brother works as a teacher in an area that is said to be experiencing some of the worst post-election violence.

When schools opened about two weeks ago, he decided to stay away from there.

After a while he thought it would be safe to return to his school, as he had heard no reports of violence there.

He was abducted from his home on Monday night, beaten up and returned to his home.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7391815.stm

Edit: Thank you for posting this. Recommending and kicking.

[FarrenH]

2. Mbeki has been a bitter disappointment

His "diplomacy" has amounted to all but endorsing Mugabe in recent years. He played a pivotal role in the South African observer mission's legitimisation of Zimbabwe's last, rigged election against the strenuous objection of some of the observer teams own members. And were it not for a last-minute rebellion within his own cabinet (by the few members of his cabinet that still command some respect), a Church-sponsored court intervention and the courage of the unions, he would have been personally complicit in ensuring the transport of Chinese arms to Mugabe's repressive regime during this troubled period. Along with many other South Africans, I'm finding it increasingly difficult to understand his thinking.

Apart from that, his performance on the home front is shocking. Under his watch, the party of Mandela has dissolved the line between party and state in the same manner as the Bush administration, appointing unqualified party hacks to beauracratic positions at all tiers of government. Recent revelations from the ongoing court case brought by the unjustly suspended head of the National Prosecuting Authority show that he has repeatedly tried to shut down an investigation into the Chief of Police' (who is a close personal friend) direct involvement in organised crime, ultimately suspending the NPA head when he issued an arrest warrant. I was initially horrified when a popular vote propelled Zuma and his populist allies into the ANC's top spot, now I can't wait for the next general election to see that translated into Mbeki and his more sycophantic leutenants being turfed out of the offices of the executive.