by Cuthbert Nzou Thursday 22 January 2009
HARARE - South African church leaders have urged former president Thabo
Mbeki to step down as mediator in power-sharing negotiations in neighbouring
Zimbabwe.
The religious leaders also blamed the regional SADC grouping of failing the
people of Zimbabwe by not pressing President Robert Mugabe to agree to
genuinely share power with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
A power-sharing government is seen as the best way to pluck Zimbabwe out of
crisis but Mugabe and Tsvangirai failed to agree on a new government on
Monday because of dispute over control of ministerial and other top
government posts.
In a statement released this week, the South African National Church Leaders
Consultation said Zimbabwe had collapsed and Mbeki "is compromised and no
longer suitable for the mediation process".
Tsvangirai has on several occasions asked the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) to remove Mbeki as facilitator claiming that he was biased
in favour of Mugabe, but the regional bloc has kept faith in the former
South African leader.
On Monday, Mbeki was part of the SADC team that was in Harare to try and
break the deadlock between Mugabe and Tsvangirai on the power-sharing deal
signed last September.
The team was headed by SADC chairperson and South African President Kgalema
Motlanthe and included Mozambique President Amando Guebeza.
The SADC delegation failed to break the deadlock and an extraordinary summit
of the regional bloc would be held in either Botswana or South Africa on
Monday, January 26 in what appears to be a last minute chance to salvage the
deal.
Accusing SADC of failing to take a tougher stance against Mugabe, church
leaders called for the African Union to intervene in Zimbabwe and said that
a new facilitator should be appointed.
The church group includes Catholic, Methodist, Anglican, Dutch Reformed,
Lutheran and Rhema leaders.
"We believe that Robert Mugabe is holding to illegitimate power. The people
of Zimbabwe spoke on March 29 2008 by electing a new leadership; we
therefore call upon Robert Mugabe to resign in order to give democracy a new
chance," the National Church Leaders said.
"We also call on churches, civil society groups and political leaders in
southern Africa to urgently address the humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe."
The leaders said they would "seek and facilitate the unity of the church in
Zimbabwe", assist in providing food aid through church structures and
"actively work for the downfall of unjust rule in Zimbabwe". - ZimOnline
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