News / Africa
Zuma lobbying Sadc against Mugabe
27 Feb 2012 at 16:13hrs | Views
JOHANNESBURG - South African President Jacob Zuma will this week undertake a two-legged state visit to Botswana and Namibia, the SA government announced Monday.
According to a statement released by the Office of the SA Presidency, Mr Zuma will visit Botswana on Wednesday and Namibia on Thursday.
"The working visit takes place within the context of promoting the African Agenda and is aimed at strengthening relations between the Republic of South Africa and the two countries," said the statement.
Emphasising that South Africa maintains strong relations with the two countries, the statement added that President Zuma will also take advantage of the visit to hold bilateral consultations with the presidents of Botswana and Namibia "on a variety of multilateral issues".
Although the agenda of the meetings has not yet been officially declared, media reports in South Africa said part of the reason for the visit was to seek support against Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, who recently threatened to expel Mr Zuma from his role as facilitator of the country's crisis talks.
In the run-up to President Mugabe's 88th birthday celebrations, which took place over the weekend, the Zimbabwean leader reportedly threatened that his country would soon be forced to reject Mr Zuma as mediator if he continued to oppose the octogenarian leader.
Mugabe had previously expressed anger with Mr Zuma's efforts to broker a deal leading to reforms before elections in Zimbabwe.
The three countries are all members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which last week gave its backing to President Zuma's continued mediation of Zimbabwe's crisis.
The Spokesperson for the Department of International Relations and Cooperation in South Africa, Mr Clayson Monyela, however told the Africa Review in a telephone interview that the meetings between President Zuma and his two counterparts would not dwell on the developments in Zimbabwe because the SADC position on this issue is clear.
He said: "President Zuma was appointed by SADC as a facilitator. It is not a position he sought. He has got the support of the SADC leadership so he does not have to go back and seek for it."
According to a statement released by the Office of the SA Presidency, Mr Zuma will visit Botswana on Wednesday and Namibia on Thursday.
"The working visit takes place within the context of promoting the African Agenda and is aimed at strengthening relations between the Republic of South Africa and the two countries," said the statement.
Emphasising that South Africa maintains strong relations with the two countries, the statement added that President Zuma will also take advantage of the visit to hold bilateral consultations with the presidents of Botswana and Namibia "on a variety of multilateral issues".
Although the agenda of the meetings has not yet been officially declared, media reports in South Africa said part of the reason for the visit was to seek support against Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, who recently threatened to expel Mr Zuma from his role as facilitator of the country's crisis talks.
In the run-up to President Mugabe's 88th birthday celebrations, which took place over the weekend, the Zimbabwean leader reportedly threatened that his country would soon be forced to reject Mr Zuma as mediator if he continued to oppose the octogenarian leader.
Mugabe had previously expressed anger with Mr Zuma's efforts to broker a deal leading to reforms before elections in Zimbabwe.
The three countries are all members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which last week gave its backing to President Zuma's continued mediation of Zimbabwe's crisis.
The Spokesperson for the Department of International Relations and Cooperation in South Africa, Mr Clayson Monyela, however told the Africa Review in a telephone interview that the meetings between President Zuma and his two counterparts would not dwell on the developments in Zimbabwe because the SADC position on this issue is clear.
He said: "President Zuma was appointed by SADC as a facilitator. It is not a position he sought. He has got the support of the SADC leadership so he does not have to go back and seek for it."
Source - news
