Accusations fly as Zimbabwe parties clash in Sandton

South Africa became a political battleground this week as President Robert Mugabe and his bitter rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai exported their escalating hostilities over Zimbabwe elections and other issues to the posh suburbs of Sandton, Johannesburg.

While South Africans in the streets may not have realised it, a fierce propaganda war was raging behind the scenes, as Mugabe and his Zanu-PF cronies engaged Tsvangirai's team in a bid to win the minds of Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders ahead of the regional grouping's extraordinary summit on Zimbabwe yesterday.

Parties engaged SADC leaders, diplomats and opinion-makers as they tried to influence yesterday's summit proceedings. Mugabe and Tsvangirai jostled for South African President Jacob Zuma's attention. Zuma was the host, SADC facilitator and critical member of the regional body's troika of the organ on politics, defence and security.

In August Zuma will be taking over as the troika chairman, further strengthening his leverage on the Zimbabwe issue.

Mugabe met Zuma on Friday on his arrival in a bid to sway him and the SADC discussion on the political and security situation in Zimbabwe. And Tsvangirai attended the funeral service of SA struggle hero Albertina Sisulu to engage Zuma on the SADC meeting.

Zanu-PF and the MDC-T also traded accusations of political violence on South African soil.

Mugabe's position was that the political and security situation in Zimbabwe was stable and that a lot of progress had been made in implementing the Global Political Agenda (GPA). This was meant to justify his push for elections in Zimbabwe this year.

Mugabe had earlier in the week dispatched a team of Zanu-PF politburo members and party propagandists to do the groundwork. His team included Jonathan Moyo, Oppah Muchinguri, Sandi Moyo, Christopher Mutsvangwa, Tafataona Mahoso and Vimbai Chivaura.

The Zanu-PF team immediately went into action as it tried to challenge the South African police's decision to ban a planned Zanu-PF demonstration at the venue of the summit, which police said was going to clash with one arranged by the MDC-T and civil society organisations. The parties had bussed people in to stage protests against each other.

Moyo, who of late has been leading a crusade against Zuma, described as "scandalous" the decision by the South African police to ban the Zanu-PF demonstration, while allowing anti-Mugabe protests to go ahead.

"For the host and facilitator to allow one of the political parties to have a demonstration against the other is scandalous. It's either all of them are allowed or none of them. Allowing one party to demonstrate is offensive to natural justice and public interest," Moyo said. "It is a matter that is scandalous. It is an attempt to humiliate our president."

Moyo also attacked Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, for visiting the SADC troika chairman, Zambian President Rupiah Banda, for talks before yesterday's summit, claiming she wanted to incite Egyptian-style uprisings in Zimbabwe. Zuma's report on Zimbabwe - compiled before the Livingstone meeting in Zambia in March and discussed yesterday - says Mugabe could face similar revolts to those seen in northern Africa.

Mugabe and his team was out to fight for the revision or reversal of SADC resolutions made at the Livingstone summit. Zanu-PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo stepped up his condemnation of the Livingstone resolutions, claiming they reflected one party's position while ignoring that of the Zanu-PF party.

"The resultant communiqué clearly reflected the position of only one party to the GPA. Zanu-PF sincerely hopes that similar procedural errors will not be repeated at future SADC summits. While Zanu-PF has absolute faith and trust in the SADC's facilitation role, we believe that the substance of the Livingstone communiqué requires a serious review, since the serious procedural flows clearly affected the final outcome of the summit," he said.

Tsvangirai and the MDC-T's position was that the GPA had not been fully implemented and therefore Zimbabwe was not ready for elections.

Jameson Timba, Minister of State in Tsvangirai's office and a senior MDC-T official, was also fiery in Johannesburg on Friday, countering Zanu-PF actions and statements.

Zanu-PF held its own meetings in Johannesburg and Pretoria to counter the MDC-T and push its stance. Civil society groups, particularly Crisis Coalition, were also there.

Crisis held a moving and graphically horrifying exhibition on political violence at the Hilton Hotel, where Timba stepped up the rhetoric.

Dossiers on violence were distributed, but Zanu-PF also had its own posters.

Timba said: "The MDC reaffirms its full support for the Livingstone SADC troika's comprehensive resolutions, in particular that there cannot be an election in Zimbabwe until confidence-building blocks are firmly in place."

Timba attacked Zanu-PF and accused it of violating the GPA, perpetrating political violence, using the security forces to attack and intimidate Mugabe's opponents and voters and looting the country's diamonds, while insisting Zimbabwe was not yet ready for elections.

There was also a war of words on Friday in South Africa between MDC-N leader Welshman Ncube and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, who was fighting for attention and legitimacy before the SADC. Mutambara fought in Mugabe's corner in Sandton.