ANC, alliance partners to develop common Zimbabwe position

South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) party and its alliance partners are to formulate a common position on Zimbabwe, officials told IRIN. The move could indicate a shift in the ANC's stance on Zimbabwe. The alliance partners, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the South African Communist Party (SACP), have been openly critical of the ZANU-PF government. The ANC also approved COSATU's plans to resume its fact-finding mission to Zimbabwe. "We were never against it, but have always maintained that COSATU should respect the Zimbabwean government's sovereignty", the ANC's head of presidency, Smuts Ngonyama, told IRIN. The second fact-finding mission is expected to leave for Zimbabwe early next month. The ruling alliance secretariat meets on Thursday, when it will also draw up a response to Zimbabwean labour minister, Paul Mangwana, who said last week that COSATU should not seek to return to the country, COSATU spokesman Paul Notyawa told IRIN. Mangwana reportedly remarked to The Financial Gazette, a weekly newspaper, that Zimbabwe was not a province of South Africa, and COSATU should stay on its side of the border. COSATU's first visit to Zimbabwe, when its delegates were expelled, sparked a heated public exchange between the labour federation and the ANC last year. President Thabo Mbeki criticised COSATU for allegedly showing contempt for a sovereign government and head of state, which "could not have created a climate conducive to serious discussions". A member of the ANC's national executive committee (NEC) explained that the shift in the last two weeks had come about as a result of several factors, including the abrasive response by his party leadership to COSATU's first visit, which "did not go down well with our members". Zimbabwe's main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which has been seen by the ANC as being too pro-western, as well as having ties to the predominantly white South African opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, had developed a more pro-African "nuanced approach", the official explained. The MDC has also attempted to improve its relationship with the ANC, which has helped. The ANC's willingness to review its stance on Zimbabwe has also come out of concern that growing tensions with COSATU could lead to a split, with the labour movement forming a new rival party, a senior party source said. Zimbabwe was the subject of "extensive discussion" at an NEC meeting last week. At a press briefing afterwards, ANC secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe, a former trade unionist, expressed concern over the MDC's lack of political freedom in Zimbabwe, ahead of the general elections in March. He reportedly said, "Over the years we have been saying to them [ZANU-PF] that you cannot have a properly registered party restricted in this way. Indeed, the playing field should be levelled, and the police should act in an impartial manner." This is the first time the ANC has admitted that it had been attempting to apply pressure on ZANU-PF to adhere to the Southern African Development Community's guidelines on electoral reform. "There is growing impatience within certain sections of the ANC with the ZANU-PF's unwillingness to reform. The debate now within the ANC, on drawing a position on Zimbabwe, is whether we should, in the light of the fact that the electoral reforms introduced by the Mugabe regime are too late - just a few months ahead of the elections - declare the electoral exercise illegitimate, or pronounce it as a partial opening towards democratisation," a senior NEC member told IRIN. Ngonyama, however, maintained that there had been no change in the stance on Zimbabwe, but underlined the need for "developing a common understanding with our alliance partners on the issues in Zimbabwe. We have always said that all parties [in Zimbabwe] should be allowed to function in a free environment."