Diplomat says Pretoria won’t condemn Harare

A senior South African diplomat in Zimbabwe said at the weekend that Pretoria would not bow to international pressure to condemn President Robert Mugabe’s government for allegedly promoting lawlessness through its land reform programme, news reports said. Jereiah Ndou was quoted as saying that South Africa supported Zimbabwe’s land reforms and would continue to engage the Zimbabwean government in quiet diplomacy. “The debate (about land reforms) in Zimbabwe has been going on for quite sometime now, but we don’t believe in standing on top of a roof and making noise. South Africa and Zimbabwe have a long relationship and we have inter-dependent economies. So we will rather work together to solve problems than shout,” Ndou said.