Mugabe threatens to reject SADC mediator

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has threatened to reject South African leader Jacob Zuma as mediator in the Harare political crisis.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) appointed Zuma and his facilitation team have insisted Zimbabwe’s three governing parties must first implement agreements under the terms of their power sharing deal before elections can be held.

But President Mugabe, who turns 88 Tuesday, says the elections would he held this year with or without the reforms, because the coalition government he formed with his foes in 2009 had become dysfunctional.

He told state media that his Zanu-PF party might be forced to reject President Zuma as mediator.

“We can reject Zuma very easily,” he said in an interview The Herald newspaper said would be aired on state radio Monday night.

“We have since warned we are not forced to, but we don’t want to do that, we want to have an understanding.”

He said President Zuma was mediating on behalf of SADC and rejecting his mediation role would not affect relations between Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Facilitate dialogue

“Facilitators that we were given are leaders selected on the basis of their standing to assist a country that has differences so that the country can find a common ground and resolve its differences,” President Mugabe was quoted as saying.

“Facilitators do not carry the name of their home country to the countries they would be facilitating.”

In April last year, the veteran ruler reacted angrily to a report by President Zuma at a SADC summit in Zambia that was critical of his commitment to the power sharing agreement.

After the summit, he told a Zanu-FP meeting that he would not take instructions from the South African leader.

“We will not brook any dictation from any source,” he said then.

“We are a sovereign country.''

“Even our neighbours cannot dictate to us. We will resist that. The facilitator is the facilitator and must facilitate dialogue.

“He cannot prescribe anything. We prescribe what we should do in accordance with our laws and our agreement,” President Mugabe added.

He has also expressed uneasiness over a plan for fresh elections in Harare that proposes far reaching electoral and security reforms.