Mbeki moves to reassure nation

In a special address to the nation on Thursday night, President Thabo Mbeki tried to reassure South Africans that the country would not face a similar crisis over land redistribution underway in neighbouring Zimbabwe, and defended his low-key policy approach towards Harare. On the eve of his departure to Zimbabwe on an official visit, he said that South Africa would continue to offer Zimbabwe help to overcome the political and economic instability surrounding the land issue. But Mbeki steered clear of criticising either President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe or Britain, which has led international criticism of the government’s approach. “Our government will work persistently and without making the noise of empty drums, to help our sister people of Zimbabwe to find a just and lasting solution to the real and pressing land question in their country,” Mbeki told the nation. He said that South Africa had “resisted the temptation to assume a counter-productive, holier-than-thou attitude”. AgriSA’s (the former South African Agricultural Union) CEO Jack Raath was quoted in news reports as saying that Zimbabwe’s land invasions had set off fears among South African commercial farmers that had to be managed properly. “Farmers need assurances that a similar situation will not occur in SA,” Raath said. “Its probably not going to solve anything for Mbeki to condemn President Mugabe publicly.” In his speech Mbeki thanked South African farmers saying: “I would like to extend our sincere thanks to our own commercial farmers, especially as represented by AgriSA and others of our compatriots, for enormously valuable contribution they have made and are making to help resolve the land question in Zimbabwe.” An analyst from the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) told IRIN on Friday that Mbeki’s speech came at a time of mounting criticism over his “softly-softly” policy approach, and he was likely to have felt the need to address these issues. “Mbeki tried to reassure South Africans, but judging from the papers this morning (Friday) that didn’t happen,” she said. ‘Business Day’ reported that after Mbeki’s speech the rand slipped to a new low against the US dollar. “South African markets had hoped for a clear distancing by Mbeki from Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. This Mbeki failed to deliver,” the article said. The SAIIA analyst also noted that Mbeki needed to explain the policy of quiet diplomacy towards Zimbabwe that he has adopted. She said that this approach was possibly part of an overall strategy by South Africa not to distance and isolate itself from the rest of the region. “The government has gone to great lengths not be seen as an imperialistic regional power.” “Also Mbeki probably realises that if ZANU-PF wins the election, South Africa is going to have to deal with Mugabe and if South Africa burns it bridges so to say, life could become very difficult for South Africa on the regional stage within SADC (the Southern African Development Community). Some kind of working relationship between the two is vital to progress on regional issues such as finding some kind of resolution to the ongoing conflict in Angola,” she said. The analyst also noted that it was not clear to what extent the South African government knows and trusts the opposition in Zimbabwe. “It is very rarely that any government will openly choose to support the opposition instead of the government of the day. What is normally done is that communication between the two is encouraged,” she said.