By Tichaona Sibanda
3 December 2009

South African President Jacob Zuma will not visit Zimbabwe any time ‘soon’ to engage the leadership over outstanding issues in the Global Political Agreement, his spokesman said on Thursday.

But the South African leader will deliver a report compiled by his facilitation team, to Mozambican President Armando Guebuza, in a few days time. Guebuza is the current chairman of the SADC Troika, the regional trade bloc’s organ on politics, defence and security.

Vincent Magwenya told SW Radio Africa from Pretoria that reports the President was scheduled to visit Zimbabwe were incorrect and misleading.

‘How can he visit Harare when he has just sent a team there? Asked Magwenya who added that ‘the media was working on assumptions rather than on correct information or there was a misunderstanding somewhere.’

An analyst told us the delay by Zuma to visit Harare could imply that he sees the need for another Troika or a full SADC summit to deal with the contentious issues. Negotiators resumed their talks in Harare on Thursday and are expected to finish on Saturday. They will present their report to the principals who will meet Monday next week to deliberate on the findings. Only when the principals declare a stalemate will Zuma come in to mediate, a source told us.

Zuma’s spokesman also clarified what has long been assumed was a deadline set by SADC, for the negotiators to resolve their differences before a 30-day timeline.

‘The SADC Troika communiqué makes it clear those political parties signatory to the GPA should engage in dialogue with immediate effect within fifteen days and not beyond 30 days. This was never a deadline but a timeline for the negotiators to resume talks, which they are currently doing now,’ Magwenya said.

Magwenya added; ‘The correct position, as far as President Zuma is concerned, is that his facilitation team which is back home engaged with all the parties in Zimbabwe. They have since delivered their report to the President who will in turn forward that report to President Guebuza.’

‘The report will only be made public once President Guebuza has received and dealt with it, otherwise it will be unfair to pre-empt its contents before the SADC Troika studies it,’ Magwenya said.

On the 5th November last month, Guebuza hosted a SADC Troika summit in Maputo to consider the political situation in Zimbabwe. Following a day long meeting, the Summit urged ZANU PF and the MDC to fully comply with the spirit and letter of the GPA and SADC Summit decision of 27 January 2009.

The Troika also urged Robert Mugabe, Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara not to allow the situation to deteriorate any further and to engage in a dialogue in order to find a lasting solution to the outstanding issues towards the full implementation of the GPA.

With South Africa preparing to host the FIFA World Cup finals in 2010, Zuma will be under the spotlight from the region, continent and the international community over whether he will be able to broker a lasting solution in Zimbabwe.

Analysts have said that he seems to have moved away from Mbeki’s ‘quiet diplomacy’ to a more robust and open mediation effort. Although to the average suffering Zimbabwean, there seems little to suggest anything has changed, as they are denied access to information about the talks.

SW Radio Africa