Tsvangirai meets the ANC

Leaders of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) were expected to meet South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) in Pretoria on Thursday to discuss Zimbabwe’s worsening political and economic crisis, the ‘Financial Gazette’ reported.

The newspaper said MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai, his deputy Gibson Sibanda and secretary-general Welshman Ncube left Harare on Wednesday for South Africa at the invitation of the powerful Confederation of South African Trade Unions (COSATU).

Tsvangirai was also expected to address COSATU’s executive committee. COSATU is a member of the tripartite alliance that governs South Africa along with the ANC and the Communist Party. The report said Tsvangirai would brief the COSATU leadership on political developments and the labour unrest in Zimbabwe. The trio, the newspaper added, were also scheduled to hold talks with ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma, national chairman Patrick Mosioua Lekota and secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe.

Tsvangirai was quoted saying that his meeting with the ANC leaders would centre on the crisis in Zimbabwe and what the South African government could do to avert a total collapse of its northern neighbour. He said it was clear to the ANC that the importance of stability in Zimbabwe to South Africa was beyond President Robert Mugabe or the MDC. “We will take the opportunity to give them a frank assessment of the situation in Zimbabwe and what role the ANC government can play in solving the crisis as an influential regional power,” Tsvangirai told the ‘Financial Gazette’. He said his party would discuss the land reform issue, the breakdown of law and order and the decline of the political and economic situation in Zimbabwe, among others.