BuaNews (Tshwane)
Michael Appel
17 April 2008
Pretoria — With Zimbabwe's presidential results still outstanding more than two weeks after the 29 March 2008 election, government has expressed great concern at the delays and the anxiety it is causing.
"Cabinet discussed the recent developments in Zimbabwe following the elections that took place ... the meeting acknowledged the role played by President Thabo Mbeki in facilitating talks between the ruling party and the opposition.
"South Africa, like the rest of the world, is concerned about the delay in the release of [election] results and the anxiety that this is generating," said Government Spokesperson Themba Maseko, Wednesday.
Speaking at a post-Cabinet briefing, Mr Maseko highlighted that Cabinet has endorsed the Southern African Development Community's (SADC) call for the verification and release of all results as soon as possible.
The South African government would do everything within its power to make sure the outstanding election results are released, and if necessary, he said, government would interact directly with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).
"Beyond this, there is very little we can do," said Mr Maseko.
Answering questions as to the ZEC's reasons for the outstanding presidential election results, Mr Maseko said that no reasons for the delay had been given by the electoral authority, but reiterated the need for the people of Zimbabwe to be informed on the situation.
"The focus of discussions [at the Cabinet briefing on Wednesday] was about how to make sure that everything is being done to facilitate discussions between the ruling party and the opposition, and to ensure that everything is being done to release the results as soon as possible.
"So our view is that it is not helpful to debate at this stage as to whether there is a crisis in Zimbabwe or not, the focus must be on getting the results released and for things to change to some sort of normality in Zimbabwe," said the government spokesperson.
Meanwhile, Mr Maseko also highlighted that Cabinet had approved the cancellation of the R926.8 million in debt owed to South Africa by Cuba.
The debt, he said, was incurred as a result of insurance cover provided to Cuba by the Export Credit Insurance Corporation of South Africa Limited for the export of diesel engineers and pesticides in 1996.
South Africa and Cuba have always enjoyed strong and cordial relations dating back to South Africa's apartheid era.
Cuba's Fidel Castro, who recently decided to step down from office, fought a number of guerrilla wars on the African continent with another very famous revolutionist Che Guevara.
Ms Maseko said that government's assessment of Cuba's debt position, and in considering the possible damage to bilateral economic relations, that it was decided to wipe the slate clean.
"Cuba's debt position had the potential to undermine the bilateral economic relations and detract the two countries from pursuit of mutually beneficial relations in areas such as biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and the eradication of Tuberculosis and malaria in Africa and the strengthening of South-South relations," he said.
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