IRIN Focus on opposition overtures to SADC neighbours

Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in Zimbabwe, last week held talks with members of the Botswana government in what he called part of a planned initiative by his party to engage leaders in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) more directly in Zimbabwean affairs. , Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in Zimbabwe, last week held talks with members of the Botswana government in what he called part of a planned initiative by his party to engage leaders in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) more directly in Zimbabwean affairs. His talks with senior official in Gaborone, including Foreign Minister Mompati Merafhe, were widely reported in the press in both countries and South Africa. The week before, he travelled to South Africa for talks with the former president, Nelson Mandela, who has publicly suggested that after 20 years in power, President Robert Mugabe should resign. "The next visit is to Mozambique. We are making arrangements for Mozambique and South Africa, at least in the short term," Tsvangirai told Zimbabwe's independent newspaper, 'The Daily News'. "We will of course expand the whole initiative to other SADC countries." David Coltart, a Zimbabwean MDC MP and the party's legal affairs advisor, told IRIN on Monday that Tsvangirai has been sounding out regional officials on his views that Mugabe should resign and relinquish power before his term expires in 2002. He had also been "stressing" to them that he would not seek Mugabe's ouster through unlawful means. "Our goal is to seek Mr Mugabe's impeachment through the proper parliamentary process," Coltart said referring to a secret parliamentary impeachment ballot the MDC is calling this week. Tsvangirai, whose labour union-based party is barely a year old, gave Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party a major political shock in June this year when it managed to get 57 candidates into the 150-seat parliament. Although not sufficient to form a majority, the last parliament held only three opposition members. But whether Tsvangirai's talks in Gaborone, Botswana, last Thursday and Friday, signalled any change of SADC's position towards Zimbabwe and Mugabe himself, is of less importance than the fact that Tsvangirai realises that he needs to court the leaders of Zimbabwe's most important neighbours. "These two countries are Botswana and South Africa," Claude Kabemba, a foreign policy analyst at the Johannesburg-based Centre for Policy Studies, told IRIN. "It is not a question of any change in the SADC position here. He does not want to influence SADC, it is too polarised. But it is a good strategy from his viewpoint to be talking to Zimbabwe's two most democratic, important and influential neighbours. It is important that he explains to them what the opposition is planning in Zimbabwe." "It will be interesting to see how these neighbours react to the impeachment process this week," he said. "The situation in Zimbabwe has become very difficult."