Zuma censures the 'stupid & idiotic' SA woman

SOUTH African president Jacob Zuma yesterday rapped his international relations advisor Ms Lindiwe Zulu's for her utterances on Zimbabwe, describing them as unauthorised, regrettable, unfortunate and inaccurate.

Zuma was appointed facilitator to the Global Political Agreement by Sadc in his personal capacity, succeeding Thabo Mbeki soon after the signing of the GPA in September 2008.

On assuming his duties, Zuma appointed a backroom technical team to assist him, including Ms Zulu, Mr Charles Nqakula who is High Commissioner to Mozambique and Mr Mac Maharaj who is a special envoy and spokesperson to the Presidency.

Ms Zulu became the most vocal of the team, issuing statements about the facilitation to the extent of challenging not only Sadc itself, but even the Constitutional Court of Zimbabwe.

Her latest outburst came last week when she was quoted in some sections of the media as saying South Africa was concerned about the situation in Zimbabwe in the run up to elections.

Her utterances incensed President Mugabe, who  at a star rally in Gwanda on Saturday urged his South African counterpart to rein in his international relations advisor.

"And may I say that persistent negative voice from South Africa . . . could it please be stopped. I appeal to President Zuma to stop this woman of theirs from speaking on Zimbabwe.

"We were given one facilitator with one mouth and that is President Zuma himself; that's the voice, the only voice we want to hear. Yesterday, it was President Thabo Mbeki who was facilitator and only his voice spoke, no other voice spoke," President Mugabe said.

And in a statement released by his spokesperson Mr Maharaj yesterday, Zuma distanced himself from Ms Zulu's utterances.

"The Presidency has noted with great concern, recent unfortunate statements made on the situation in Zimbabwe, which have been attributed to a member of the technical team supporting the Facilitator, President Jacob Zuma,'' Zuma said.

"South Africa was appointed by Sadc to assist the Zimbabwean political parties to resolve their differences. The Facilitator, President Jacob Zuma, appointed a three person facilitation team to provide technical support.

"The team comprises Mr Charles Nqakula, High Commissioner to Mozambique as the Head, Mr Mac Maharaj, Special Envoy and spokesperson to the President and Ms Lindiwe Zulu, International Relations Advisor to the President.

"The technical team supports the Facilitator and cannot impose its views on Zimbabwe nor make public pronouncements. Only President Zuma has the mandate to speak on Zimbabwe on behalf of SADC on facilitation issues.

"A number of statements have been made during the facilitation process which have been unauthorised and which are regrettable and unfortunate. Some of the utterances have also been inaccurate.

"The Presidency wishes to correct in particular the reports this weekend that President Zuma telephoned President Robert Mugabe to  express his unhappiness about preparations for the Zimbabwean elections. No such telephone call has been made. The report is incorrect.

"President Zuma has also been alerted to inappropriate postings in the social media on the Zimbabwean situation. South Africa remains fully committed to the warm historical relations with the Republic of Zimbabwe and wishes the people of Zimbabwe well as they prepare for the elections," Zuma said.

In his address in Gwanda on Saturday, President Mugabe appealed to President Zuma to silence Ms Zulu saying a facilitator had only one mouth which was the position taken by Sadc at its annual summit in Luanda, Angola in August 2011 where Zuma was advised to engage the party principals directly as his reliance on proxies was creating procedural problems and misrepresentations.

The directive came in the wake of growing concern that Ms Zulu, who had no locus standi before Sadc, was overstepping her boundary and risked stirring diplomatic rows.