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Botswana: 'Homeboy' Khama Ventures Out

25 November 2008

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President Ian Khama consulted his South African counterpart Kgalema Motlanthe in Pretoria on Sunday, specifically on the Zimbabwean crisis.

Botswana has previously said fresh elections, under the supervision of external bodies such as the African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN), is the only solution to the Zimbabwean impasse. Foreign Minister, Phandu Skelemani, who accompanied the president confirmed that Khama consulted Motlanthe in his capacity as the chairman of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

Botswana sought to be updated by the chairman on the progress made so far since the signing of the power-sharing agreement between the parties in Zimbabwe, said Skelemani yesterday from London where he is on an official visit with the president.

President Khama told the South African media briefing after the Sunday meeting with Motlanthe that "our biggest concern is that the focus is moving away from the plight of the Zimbabwean people, who are suffering through starvation and diseases." Cholera epidemic is sweeping the besieged country, having claimed at least 300 people and affecting some 6,000 lives.

Skelemani said President Motlanthe briefed them on the power-sharing meeting planned for today in South Africa. Motlanthe told the South African public broadcaster that: "We agreed that, with regards to Zimbabwe, the next step really is to ensure that we unblock the impasse for them to take Amendment 19 through the senate and the assembly, so that Tsvangirai could be sworn in as prime minister and Mutambara as the vice prime minister and Mugabe as the president, so that once the three of them have been sworn in they can then form an inclusive government."

Analysts have interpreted Motlanthe's insistence on the re-swearing of Mugabe on the same day as that of prime minister designate Tsvangirai, as non-recognition of Mugabe as president. This is a marked foreign policy departure from that of the previous administration of Thabo Mbeki, they noted. After the discredited June 27 Zimbabwean presidential poll, Botswana made it clear it did not recognise the illegitimate Mugabe regime. Skelemani yesterday maintained that "as we talk there is no government in Zimbabwe. There is only an agreement to form government".

Regional analysts who praise Botswana's unambiguous stand on Zimbabwe accuse regional governments of always blaming ZANU-PF and MDC in the same breath. However, when quizzed on this approach, Skelemani noted that "in Parliament we made it clear that the major problem is that Mugabe, as the ZANU-PF leader, behaves as if he has the right to parcel out positions to other parties".

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