Harare — President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, and Nigeria's Olusegun Obasanjo were in Zimbabwe, Monday, to try to strike a deal between the newly-sworn in veteran leader, Robert Mugabe, and the defeated opposition challenger, Morgan Tsvangirai.
Mugabe was sworn in for a fifth six-year term on Sunday.
The West insists that "Africa must take the lead" in breaking the political impasse in Zimbabwe, but that is easier said than done. The G8 wealthy nations may have put their faith in Nigeria and especially South Africa, but it will be hard to find a compromise acceptable to both sides. With the positions of both sides - Mugabe's governing Zanu-PF and Tsvangirai's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) - so polarized.
Before the election results were announced on Wednesday, the MDC opposition had already rejected the outcome of what it called a flawed poll, declaring Mugabe's victory daylight robbery' and his government illegitimate'. "It is time for the nation to heal, but there is no way it can be healed without democracy. Mugabe may have the power, but he does not have the confidence of the nation," said Tsvangirai.
On Sunday, the MDC claimed it had evidence that a vote recount would show that it had indeed won the poll, according to reports.
Thabo Mbeki's spokesman, Bheki Khumalo, told the BBC: "We really would like to see a peaceful Zimbabwe. We would really like to see a Zimbabwe where people of that country join hands and ensure that there is stability and economic recovery. This is the message that our president will be taking to President Mugabe, Morgan Tsvangirai, as well as to the meeting in London in the United Kingdom."
Mbeki and Obasanjo are two of a three-member Commonwealth taskforce on Zimbabwe, which is reviewing the presidential election. The team of Commonwealth observers on the ground concluded after the vote that the result was not a reflection of the will of the people.
Yet Nigerian and South African government observers reported that the election was legitimate,' if not free and fair.
After their talks with Mugabe and Tsvangirai in Harare on Monday, Obasanjo and Mbeki are scheduled to travel to London for a meeting on Tuesday, with the third member of the Commonwealth troika, the Australian prime minister, John Howard. The three make up the special Zimbabwe taskforce mandated to report back on the conduct of the election to the secretary-general, Don McKinnon.
Early in March, Zimbabwe came under the threat of possible Commonwealth sanctions, although, with the backing of African member-states, Mugabe avoided the suspension of his country at the recent Heads of Government meeting in Australia. Britain led the call for Zimbabwe's largely symbolic exclusion from the 54-member organization. The summit agreed a compromise deal in which they would wait for the election to take place and then make a decision on the basis of the troika's report.
It has been widely reported that the African proposal on the table for Zimbabwe is the formation of a national unity coalition government, which would require Mugabe to include the MDC in any new administration.
Tsvangirai and his colleagues have rejected that recommendation outright. They say the first condition for any negotiations is that Mugabe agrees to step down, because he is no longer relevant to the search for a political solution to the crisis in Zimbabwe. The MDC leader was reported to have urged South Africa to deliver that message to Mugabe.
In his inaugural speech on Sunday, Mugabe made some conciliatory 'murmurings' towards the opposition but avoided mention of a coalition government.
"Our country beckons us to join hands in a formidable unity of purpose as we vigorously engage in our various national endeavours," said Mugabe, adding; "so the call to all of us, whether we are in the ruling party or in the opposition parties - whether we are not in either of these parties - is that we unite and come together and work for Zimbabwe as one people."
Two African presidents, Mozambique's Joaquiim Chissano and Bakili Muluzi of Malawi, who attended Mugabe's swearing-in, also went to see Tsvangirai on Sunday apparently to try to persuade him to join a national unity government.
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The pro-opposition Daily News reported on Monday that Tsvangirai said he wanted a re-run of the poll, under the supervision and observation of the international community.
"Our position is very clear. We feel we have been cheated out of the election. We feel we have won the election, but we did not win the power. We are not in a desperate position of accepting anything, because we hav the people behind us," said Tsvangirai.
Asked by the BBC whether he considered the Nigerian and South African visit to Zimbabwe a waste of time, Tsvangirai said: "I think we should give them the benefit of the doubt. Let them try. But it is a very impossible task given the attitude of the Zimbabwean government."
The people of Zimbabwe are on tenterhooks, waiting to see whether direct African intervention in their troubles will work. But few can be optimistic about the possible outcome of Mbeki's and Obasanjo's visit.
