Mbeki tells SA pastors bluntly that he Sup****ts Mugabe
By Gerald Harper ? May 5, 2008
It has emerged that South Africa’s President Thabo Mbeki told a
delegation of African church leaders that he unshamendly sup****ts
President Mugabe and said the MDC and its leader Morgan Tsvangirai were
a puppets of the West.
The Church leaders say they were shocked at the news.
The African religious leaders met Mbeki to discuss the Zimbabwean crisis
in Pretoria on Friday.
African religious leaders said Mbeki had complained that the two
countries sought to “subvert” the SADC’s mediation efforts.
On Sunday the two missions denied undermining the SADC and Mbeki’s
mediation efforts, saying there was nothing to worry about.
The British High Commission’s First Secretary for Media and Public
Affairs, R K Dixon, said: “We have always been sup****tive of the SADC
and Thabo Mbeki’s mediation efforts. There is no issue here.”
The US embassy spokesperson Sharon Hudson said: “We have repeated many
times that the SADC has and continues to play a meaningful role in the
mediation efforts in Zimbabwe and we will sup****t it.”
Dixon said Brown, who attempted to muscle a debate on Zimbabwe when
Mbeki chaired the council - a move lamented by Mbeki at the meeting with
religious leaders - plans to table the Zimbabwean crisis for discussion.
The two countries are in favour of tightening sanctions on Robert
Mugabe’s Zimbabwe’s government and may consider an arms embargo on the
flow of arms to Zimbabwe.
Mbeki had criticised the “overt” presence of these countries and the US
mission around Movement for Democratic Change leader (Morgan)
Tsvangirai, whom he criticised for reneging on agreements with him at
the advice of the US and the UK.
According to the clergymen, Mbeki preferred all mediation efforts to
sup****t those of the SADC.
The president of the SA Council of Churches, Prof Tinyiko Maluleke, said
Mbeki expressed concern that Brown insisted on having the Zimbabwe issue
discussed at the council which was being chaired by him.
Mbeki said to the clergymen the SADC would send a team to Zimbabwe on
Sunday to investigate re****ts of escalating post election violence.
MDC infuriated
After the pastors told some MDC leaders after the meeting that Mbeki
said the MDC and its leader Morgan Tsvangirai were a puppets of the
West. The MDC hit back, accusing Mbeki of hypocrisy because he held
secret meetings four years ago with a faction of the party and the
ruling Zanu-PF in a failed bid to create a government of national unity
that would have excluded Tsvangirai.
MDC officials yesterday said since 2002 Mbeki had secretly met with
Welshman Ncube then Secretary General of the United MDC and Zanu-PF’s
Emmerson Mnangagwa, one of Mugabe’s closest allies.Welshman Ncube
recently later lost his re election bid to current MDC
Vice-President,Thokozani Khuphe.
The MDC said Mbeki’s plan was to form a government of national unity in
which Mnangagwa would be president, with Mugabe’s blessings, and Ncube
the prime minister.
The plan was foiled in June 2005 when Tsvangirai was made aware of the
secret gatherings. The meetings continued after October 2006, when the
MDC split into two factions.
On Thurday the MDC wrote to Mbeki informing him of its decision to cut
all ties with him, accusing him of Aiding and abetting Mugabe; Being
part of the Zanu-PF strategy committee overseeing the resistance against
Western and international interference in the crisis; Dividing the
opposition by holding secret meetings with breakaway MDC officials;
Failing to act against Mugabe when he announced the election date
without consultation and failing to reprimand Mugabe when he forced the
Section 48 rule allowing police inside polling stations during the March
29 elections.
The MDC has written to Mbeki informing him that it would not participate
in any negotiations to which he was party because he was badly
compromised.
The MDC also said Mbeki had shown bias towards Zanu-PF ever since he
started mediating.
Mbeki spokesperson Mukoni Rat****anga demanded to know the source of
this information. He said he would not comment on it unless he knew who
it had come from.
“I can’t comment on this. It’s quite standard practice. How do I know
that I’m responding to something that has been planted by somebody else
other than the MDC. If you don’t tell me, I can’t respond. If you don’t
give me a specific name, I can’t respond. I’m sorry,” said Rat****anga.
http://zimbabwemetro.com/2008/05/05/mbeki-tells-sa-pastors-bluntly-that-he-sup****ts-mugabe/
|
