News / National
Zuma working with Tsvangirai on a safe Mugabe exit plan
21 Jul 2011 at 17:11hrs | Views
Just after government controlled media reported that the MDC-T top leadership led by Mr. Morgan Tsvangirai sneaked out of the country to hold private meetings with British PM David Cameron's advance team in South Africa. One pro-MDC online website reveals that highly placed sources, who cannot be named because of the sensitivity of the plan, said Tsvangirai tabled the request for safe passage for Mugabe when he met Zuma at Inkandla in KwaZulu Natal for three hours ahead of the Livingstone SADC summit. He requested that the Zanu-PF leader be treated with respect if he loses the election.
The visit, touted as a 'courtesy call,' followed an earlier meeting with Zuma in Pretoria.
Zuma is said to have pledged to Tsvangirai that he would persuade Mugabe to leave office peacefully if he lost the next ballot.
"I can tell you there is an exit strategy," said the source. "It will certainly not be in his interest to rig the next election."
Our source said the trip was the first secret contact between the two at state leadership level since the establishment of the transitional GNU more than two years ago.
Zuma reportedly wanted an assurance that Mugabe would be given enough time to vacate State House, his home for the past 31 years. Zuma's reaction was "particularly refreshing" said the source.
Analysts say the ageing former guerrilla leader, now increasingly isolated, cannot win a free and fair poll in March because of his repressive rule, mismanagement of the economy and his administration's rampant corruption.
The plan follows threats by army generals that they will not allow Tsvangirai into State House ostensibly because he doesn't have liberation war credentials.
Tsvangirai's MDC has taken the matter to Parliament and to JOMIC. They want the generals to be forced to make a pledge that they will respect the Constitution if Mugabe loses.
Mugabe's spokesman George Charamba has threatened physical violence against the MDC under the cover of a shadowy pen name he uses in the state-controlled media.
"The MDC formations have stepped on a raw nerve and their bringing the matter of generals to Parliament can only stoke greater rage. They are sure to walk away empty-handed, bleeding. Mark my paragraph," he wrote in his weekly Nathaniel Manheru column.
Mugabe has said calls for security sector reforms were totally unacceptable.
"As Commander-in-Chief of the security forces, I want to make it very clear that no one should meddle with the command," Mugabe told a meeting of his party's central committee last Friday.
"Parliament cannot be Commander-in-Chief of the security forces. It has no business debating the conduct of individuals in command, let them raise that with me in appropriate forums. We have the National Security Council where we all sit together with commanders. No one has mustered the courage to raise issues with them," he said.
Despite Mugabe's remonstrations that he will preserve his rule through his powerful generals, our source said the South African government planned to help ease his retirement after defeat, as it did for former Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda when Frederick Chiluba defeated him in 1990.
The South African government provided Kaunda with a retirement home in Pretoria and later persuaded the Zambian leader to quit the political stage altogether.
Zuma reportedly wanted assurances that Mugabe would be treated like an elder statesman, and emphasised that he would never sit by idly and watch the generals stage a coup when Mugabe loses the election.
Tsvangirai was said to be doubtful that Mugabe would bow out gracefully and cautioned that he might still try to hang onto power even if he lost the popular vote.
"Losing is one thing and accepting defeat or announcing one's own defeat is another," our source said, adding that the only safety net left to ensure Mugabe's departure was the growing discontent against him from within his own party.
Zuma has insisted on full implementation of the GPA and the election roadmap, a move that threatens Mugabe's continue rule through the state security forces.
The visit, touted as a 'courtesy call,' followed an earlier meeting with Zuma in Pretoria.
Zuma is said to have pledged to Tsvangirai that he would persuade Mugabe to leave office peacefully if he lost the next ballot.
"I can tell you there is an exit strategy," said the source. "It will certainly not be in his interest to rig the next election."
Our source said the trip was the first secret contact between the two at state leadership level since the establishment of the transitional GNU more than two years ago.
Zuma reportedly wanted an assurance that Mugabe would be given enough time to vacate State House, his home for the past 31 years. Zuma's reaction was "particularly refreshing" said the source.
Analysts say the ageing former guerrilla leader, now increasingly isolated, cannot win a free and fair poll in March because of his repressive rule, mismanagement of the economy and his administration's rampant corruption.
The plan follows threats by army generals that they will not allow Tsvangirai into State House ostensibly because he doesn't have liberation war credentials.
Tsvangirai's MDC has taken the matter to Parliament and to JOMIC. They want the generals to be forced to make a pledge that they will respect the Constitution if Mugabe loses.
Mugabe's spokesman George Charamba has threatened physical violence against the MDC under the cover of a shadowy pen name he uses in the state-controlled media.
"The MDC formations have stepped on a raw nerve and their bringing the matter of generals to Parliament can only stoke greater rage. They are sure to walk away empty-handed, bleeding. Mark my paragraph," he wrote in his weekly Nathaniel Manheru column.
Mugabe has said calls for security sector reforms were totally unacceptable.
"As Commander-in-Chief of the security forces, I want to make it very clear that no one should meddle with the command," Mugabe told a meeting of his party's central committee last Friday.
"Parliament cannot be Commander-in-Chief of the security forces. It has no business debating the conduct of individuals in command, let them raise that with me in appropriate forums. We have the National Security Council where we all sit together with commanders. No one has mustered the courage to raise issues with them," he said.
Despite Mugabe's remonstrations that he will preserve his rule through his powerful generals, our source said the South African government planned to help ease his retirement after defeat, as it did for former Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda when Frederick Chiluba defeated him in 1990.
The South African government provided Kaunda with a retirement home in Pretoria and later persuaded the Zambian leader to quit the political stage altogether.
Zuma reportedly wanted assurances that Mugabe would be treated like an elder statesman, and emphasised that he would never sit by idly and watch the generals stage a coup when Mugabe loses the election.
Tsvangirai was said to be doubtful that Mugabe would bow out gracefully and cautioned that he might still try to hang onto power even if he lost the popular vote.
"Losing is one thing and accepting defeat or announcing one's own defeat is another," our source said, adding that the only safety net left to ensure Mugabe's departure was the growing discontent against him from within his own party.
Zuma has insisted on full implementation of the GPA and the election roadmap, a move that threatens Mugabe's continue rule through the state security forces.
Source - thezimbabwean
