Zimbabwe
14 September 2007
The Presidency has noted another media report purporting to represent the
position of President Thabo Mbeki and the South African Government on the
situation in Zimbabwe.
The latest report by the newspaper, The Zimbabwean, published in London and
Johannesburg, claims to be privy to minutes which suggest that the South
African government blames President Robert Mugabe for the situation in
Zimbabwe.
The report claims that the "South African Governmentâ¦has been secretly
working to remove (President Mugabe) from power." It further claims that "The
South African officials have been lobbying for sustained international pressure
to bear on the Mugabe regime."
These claims by The Zimbabwean are devoid of truth. Addressing Parliament a
fortnight ago, President Mbeki categorically stated that the South African
Government has never, does not currently nor will it in future support 'Regime
Change' in Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwean completely ignored this publicly stated position of our
government. It also did not make contact with the Presidency or the Department
of Foreign Affairs to verify the authenticity of minutes it claims to have in
its possession.
The Presidency recalls that as recently as 15 August, we issued a statement
distancing the South African government from news reports that sought to link
President Mbeki to a report which blamed certain Western governments for the
situation in Zimbabwe.
The news reports to which we refer originated from a story written by an
Agence France Presse (AFP) journalist in Zambia on 8 August. The original story
did not attribute the report to another country and not South Africa. However,
a few hours later Reuters carried a news story attributing the report to
President Mbeki and the South African government.
Some South African and international media continued to report the story
along the same false line - attributing the report to President Mbeki and the
South African Government.
In the same way as The Zimbabwean has done, none of these media institutions
contacted the Presidency to verify the facts.
We raise this to caution the media from falling victim to those who, for
purposes of advancing political agendas which may be opposed to the resolution
of the situation in Zimbabwe, peddle untruths which may impact negatively on
the ongoing process of dialogue.
In this regard, we would like to reiterate what we stated on 15 August when
we said: "the object of the process of facilitation of dialogue between the
political leadership of Zimbabwe with which President Mbeki is engaged is to
assist in finding a lasting solution to the political and economic situation in
Zimbabwe."
We also called on "everyone including the media, to support the facilitation
process. A critical part of support for the process is the communication of
factual information about all aspects of the situation in Zimbabwe."
Insofar as The Zimbabwean newspaper report is untruthful, it does not assist
in supporting the process.
For more information, please contact:
Mukoni Ratshitanga
Tel: 012 300 5436
Cell: 082 300 3447
Issued by: The Presidency
14 September 2007
Source: SAPA
