Former South African president Thabo Mbeki has said President Emmerson Mnangagwa should do what is in the best interests of Zimbabweans in order to move the country forward after the disputed 2023 Harmonised Elections.
Speaking to the SABC in New York, United States, where he is attending meetings at the United Nations, Mbeki intimated that leaders should consider what is best for the nation first, before their personal interests.
While he did not offer a solution to Zimbabwe’s political logjam, Mbeki appeared to suggest that a power-sharing government, like the one he brokered in 2009, could resolve the country’s political impasse. He said, as quoted by ZimLive:
In 2008 when the Zimbabweans could see that the elections had not produced a winner, they decided let’s get together as Zimbabweans for five years and see what we can do together.
What must inspire you is not to say I’m a leader of the people of South Africa or ANC president, but to say ‘What would be in the best interests of the country?’…
People are holding onto political positions. What’s in the best interests of Zimbabweans in a situation of this kind?
Mbeki said when he was removed as ANC president, he could have put up resistance but in the end, decided to “go along with the wrong decision”.
Mbeki stepped down in 2009 soon after he facilitated a power-sharing agreement between ZANU PF and MDC-T.
His resignation was triggered by the ruling of a judge who said he and others in his government were involved in a political conspiracy to criminally charge his then deputy, Jacob Zuma. Said Mbeki:
In the interests of what happens to South Africa, I thought it was best to say let’s go along with this wrong decision because to have said ‘No’, to say ‘I’m not going,’ would have created an enormous crisis.
Mbeki, who in April 2008 shocked many people when he said there was no crisis in Zimbabwe, told SABC in the interview that was aired on Thursday that SADC troika chairman Hakainde Hichilema, the Zambian president, still needs to make a decision on the report of the SADC Election Observer Mission (SEOM).
The SEOM preliminary report said the elections did not meet regional and international standards on democratic elections. Said Mbeki:
I’ve not been very close to the Zimbabwe (election) processes. But as far as I know, after the SADC observers had made their comments virtually saying as far as they are concerned the elections were not representative of popular opinion, and submitted their report to the chairman of the SADC organ President Hichilema of Zambia, I don’t know what happened after that. I would presume that then the SADC organ would have had to study the report and make a decision or suggest what is to be done.
After the 2008 elections which were very disputed, and then the second round of the presidential elections was marked by a lot of violence, the Zimbabwe parties agreed that the only way to respond to this reality is that we must come together in a government of national unity. It was a response to what had happened during the elections.
Mnangagwa was declared the winner of the 23 August presidential race with 52.6% of the vote while his closest challenger, Nelson Chamisa polled 44 percent, according to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).
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