Wyndham Hartley
15 April 2008
Cape Town — Rejection of President Thabo Mbeki's "no crisis in Zimbabwe" position intensified yesterday with the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) agreeing to an emergency debate on the Zimbabwe crisis.
Opposition parties were also calling for a special session of the South African Parliament to discuss the matter.
As Mbeki flew to Senegal for a New Partnership for Africa's Development review meeting, the new IPU president, National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete, demonstrated the divisions in the African National Congress (ANC) by putting the crisis in Zimbabwe on the agenda of world parliamentarians.
The 118th assembly of the IPU will debate the situation in Zimbabwe this week. The debate was first suggested by the New Zealand delegation. The IPU consists of parliamentarians from around the world.
Mbete's decision to put Zimbabwe on the IPU agenda follows her speech on Sunday night at the opening of the assembly when she broke ranks with Mbeki , saying the world could not remain silent on the Zimbabwe situation, which was a democratic process that had gone wrong. Ironically, Mbeki was sitting with her on the IPU platform. Mbete is also chairwoman of the ANC.
In other Zimbabwe-related developments, Democratic Alliance chief whip Ian Davidson joined Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Mulder in calling for an urgent session so that Parliament could "help break the government's unforgivable silence on this issue".
"Such a move will allow Parliament to debate the implications of President Mbeki's tacit support of President Mugabe on SA's international standing, and the effects of the growing crisis in Zimbabwe on the political and economic climate in SA.
" President Mbeki is woefully out of step with mounting international disapproval for Robert Mugabe. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa and even ANC president Jacob Zuma have all expressed the view that the impasse in Zimbabwe needs to be resolved urgently and the will of the people of Zimbabwe respected by releasing the results of the presidential election immediately. Yet, inexplicably, President Mbeki argues that there is no crisis."
Mulder said his party had asked for an urgent sitting because SA was suffering irreparable damage on an international level as a result of Mbeki's disappointing and shortsighted handling of the issue. He said Mbeki's no crisis position made SA a laughing stock.
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