Jacob Zuma calls for urgent UN and SADC intervention on Zimbabwe

By Tichaona Sibanda
24 June 2008

African National Congress President Jacob Zuma on Tuesday described the situation in Zimbabwe as ‘out of control’ and called for urgent intervention by the United Nations and the regional SADC grouping.

Zuma’s damning description of the crisis in Zimbabwe came a few hours after an unprecedented condemnation of Robert Mugabe’s violent crackdown on MDC supporters, by the U.N. Security Council.
U.N. Security Council members unanimously condemned Mugabe’s regime, saying it has waged a ‘campaign of violence’ that has made it impossible to hold a fair presidential election. The 15-nation council said it ‘condemns the campaign of violence against the political opposition ahead of the second round of presidential elections.’
But it is Zuma’s brutal assessment and condemnation of Mugabe that is set to reverberate across the African continent and whose aftershocks might force many leaders to follow suit. The ruling ANC leader said the presidential run-off must be postponed, after opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew from the vote.
Zuma, heavily tipped to succeed Mbeki as South Africa’s leader next year, said his party strongly believed the run-off was no longer a solution. He said there was now need for a political arrangement first, followed by elections further down the line.
The regional SADC bloc also discussed the crisis, in the Angolan capital Luanda on Monday. The bloc’s Executive Secretary Tomaz Salomao told journalists after the meeting that the group agreed with Tsvangirai that a ‘climate of extreme violence’ existed in Zimbabwe and that the government must protect its citizens. Political analyst Glen Mpani told Newsreel from Cape Town that the crisis in the country was becoming very embarrassing for Mugabe’s chief political protector, Thabo Mbeki.
Mpani said the international world, through its representatives at the United Nations in New York, on Monday served notice to Mbeki that they have lost patience with his repeated assertions that there remains ‘no serious crisis’ Zimbabwe. Mbeki is reportedly flying into Harare on Wednesday and is expected to hold talks with Tsvangirai and Mugabe, although no one expects this failed mediator to have any success at this stage.
Meanwhile condemnation from around Africa also increased, with the Chairman of the African Union Commission, Jean Ping, noting that the increasing acts of violence were a matter of grave concern to the Commission. Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, who also currently heads SADC where Zimbabwe is member, said; ‘Elections held in such an environment will not only be undemocratic but will also bring embarrassment to the region and the entire continent of Africa.’

On Monday Mwanawasa went even further, saying that it was ‘scandalous for SADC to remain silent on Zimbabwe.’ Amnesty International has called on SADC to hold an emergency summit but it’s increasingly likely the regional body will only convene after Friday, and when most observer missions have submitted their reports.
The head of the Pan African Parliament observer mission, Marwick Khumalo, said he was not taken aback by the MDC's decision to withdraw from the run-off, considering the fact that violence was not decreasing.

‘If anything, it was escalating. Here is a situation whereby one party is not free to campaign; one party has no access to public or state media; one party is not allowed to travel the length and breadth of this country as it pleases. So it became clear to some of us that it's becoming more and more a one-sided election,’ Khumalo was quoted saying.

While the Zanu PF regime remains defiant, vowing the election will go ahead on Friday, analysts believe Mugabe’s day of reckoning is coming closer. The whole world is now waiting to see if he declares himself president again.