Tsvangirai discusses 2005 polls with Mbeki

Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai held talks on his country's upcoming parliamentary elections with South African President Thabo Mbeki in Pretoria on Monday, according to analysts and political insiders. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader, accompanied by party secretary-general Welshman Ncube, kicked off the first leg of a regional tour in South Africa, following his acquittal two weeks ago of plotting to assassinate Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, and the return of his passport last week. Tsvangirai's spokesperson, William Bango, described the talks as "sensitive", because South Africa was trying to negotiate between two parties in a "conflict situation", but commented that the discussions would have touched on the MDC's concerns over the Zimbabwean government's implementation of the Southern African Development Community's (SADC) electoral guidelines. The MDC has repeatedly warned that next year's legislative elections are unlikely to be free and fair and have threatened to boycott them. Eddie Maloka, head of the Pretoria-based Africa Institute, suggested that the South African government was trying to impress on both the MDC and ruling ZANU-PF the need for dialogue ahead of the March ballot. He hailed the MDC leader's meeting with Mbeki as a positive development, "considering that Tsvangirai with his criticism of SADC in the past had made a grave mistake, which had resulted in the MDC's isolation - but there has been a shift in the party's policy and it has been seeking more regional cooperation". He suggested that the tense situation in Zimbabwe could be resolved if attempts were made to forge links between the two parties, just as the ruling South African National Congress (ANC) and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) had had to end years of strife in the 1980s and early 1990s. After his stop in South Africa, Tsvangirai will reportedly visit Mauritius and also meet with leaders in Lesotho, Namibia, Botswana and Tanzania.