JOMIC not SADC pressed for implementation of GPA before elections – SA Minister

The Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee which comprises equal representatives of the two factions of the Movement for Democratic Change and the Zimbabwe African National Union- Patriotic Front is the one that insisted that all outstanding issues within the Global Political Agreement should be implemented before any elections, South Africa’s Minister for International Relations and Cooperation Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said today.

The Southern African Development Community’s troika on Defence and Security that met in Livingston, Zambia at the end of March merely endorsed this decision.

Nkoana- Mashabane said this in interview on the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s View from the House programme. She is due to present her budget speech in the National Assembly today.

There have been reports that the SADC troika toughened its stance especially on Robert Mugabe at that summit. Zimbabwe could not be discussed at the SADC summit in Windhoek last week. The summit, however, said that the issue of Zimbabwe should be resolved before 12 June when another summit is due in Johannesburg.

South Africa’s stance on Zimbabwe, which has been heavily criticised, has been that Zimbabweans should solve their own problems. This has raised complaints from neighbouring countries that the issue of Zimbabwe is taking too much time from their leaders.

Nkoana-Mashabane, in a leaked Wikileaks cable from November 2009, expressed great frustration with Mugabe calling him “the crazy old man”.

Although she called for support for Morgan Tsvangirai she said she was disappointed that he had pulled out of the talks without consulting South Africa.

She also said there were rumours that Tsvangirai had been instructed by a senior United States government official to do so.

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