Former South Africa President, Thabo Mbeki, is willing to
assist Zimbabwe in resolving the challenges that the country is facing and has
commended the policies adopted by Government so far.
He met with President Mnangagwa for over two-hours at State
House in Harare yesterday.
He also met the MDC leader, Nelson Chamisa and is also expected to pay his condolences to Mrs Grace Mugabe, the wife of the late founding
President of the country, Cde Robert Mugabe.
Mr Mbeki is not new to assisting Zimbabwe and brokered
talks between Zanu-PF and the MDC parties that led to the formation of the
Inclusive Government in 2009.
Speaking to journalists after meeting President Mnangagwa,
Mr Mbeki said Sadc countries had an obligation to assist each other.
“We all have a responsibility to help one another to the
extent that we can do anything we can do to assist brethren, the Government and
the country,” he said.
“So the reason we spent this amount of time (in the
meeting) as I have said, is because I haven’t seen the President in Harare as
President of the Republic, so there was a lot of ground to cover.
“But I am very glad indeed with what the President and the
country are doing to respond to the challenges, and I think it’s very important
that the region comes behind the President and the country because the
challenges of Zimbabwe are our challenges.”
Mr Mbeki added that Sadc should follow up on its resolution
calling for the removal of sanctions on Zimbabwe.
“Here for instance, the President was telling me about the
decision taken by Sadc on the sanctions matter. It’s an important decision and
of course the region should make a follow up with countries like the United
States so that we act on this issue. So this is part of what we were reflecting
about,” he said.
The former South African President also said it was
important for political parties to respect the will of the people in electoral
processes adding any grievances should be dealt with through the legal route.
“Well, normally, I would say we must all of us respect the
view of the people and if people have got queries they must go to the courts
because all the countries in the region have that provision that people can go
and lodge their complaints about elections to the judiciary and once the courts
have made a ruling then we have got to accept that. So that’s generally the
approach,” he said.
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