SW Radio Africa (London)
Tichaona Sibanda
20 November 2008
The South African government has ruled it will not disperse the promised R300-million aid package to Zimbabwe, until a power-sharing government is in place.
The media in South Africa reports that this is the clearest indication yet that Pretoria's patience with Robert Mugabe's intransigence is wearing thin.
South Africa's cabinet spokesman Themba Maseko, said the decision to withhold the life-line followed the failure of ZANU PF and the MDC to reach an agreement over the power-sharing deal. He said the cabinet was 'extremely concerned' about the political impasse, which has 'deepened the humanitarian crisis'.
He said the outbreak of cholera in Zimbabwe was a clear indication that ordinary Zimbabweans were the true victims of the leaders's lack of political will and the failure to demonstrate seriousness to resolve the political impasse. The MDC has accused Mugabe of reneging on the deal and making unilateral decisions that favour his party.
The funds were originally aimed at rescuing the country's collapsed agricultural sector. The South African government decided that the approved package, which was announced by the Cabinet in September, will be retained for agricultural assistance to Zimbabwe.
But Maseko said the money will only be disbursed once a representative government is in place, hopefully in time for the next planting season in April 2009. The blocking of the financial life-line at this time means the country's ailing agricultural sector will lack crucial agricultural investment at the peak of the planting season. The money was earmarked for farm inputs such as fuel, seeds, equipment and fertiliser.
Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF and Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC have deadlocked on the allocation of key ministries, following a government of national unity deal brokered by former South African President Thabo Mbeki. Mugabe has made it very clear that he has no intention of sharing power and one of the most contentious portfolio's is Home Affairs, which controls the police force and also the Registrar General's office where births, deaths and voters are registered.
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