Yesterday South African President Jacob Zuma asked the European Union (EU) to lift its sanctions on Zimbabwe. (Full story here.) This for me signifies the incredible disappointment that Zuma has been with regards to his troublesome northern neighbour.
I was relatively happy to see Zuma ascend to the office of president of South Africa, mostly because I suspected he would take a harder line on Zimbabwe than his predecessor Thabo Mbeki. There was talk of trade union solidarity between him and Morgan Tsvangirai, and even ethnic hostility towards the predominantly Shona ZANU-PF. But on the surface he appears to have achieved little.
His only claim to fame was his apparent influence in the creation of the unity government, under the Global Political Agreement (GPA, and what exactly is so global about this?). But as Zimbabwe starts down another rocky road towards elections in 2011, the unity government can hardly be viewed as a resounding success.
What makes Zuma’s latest statement to the EU more startling is the topic of sanctions. Robert Mugabe and his party still claim that the ‘evil and illegal’ sanctions against his regime are the cause of all ills in Zimbabwe, when this is clearly not the case. If anything the sanctions are far too light, consisting of a mixture of travel bans and asset seizures. For Zuma to take this case to the EU, it makes a mockery of his already poor efforts to deal with Mugabe.
Startlingly, the EU has recently announced that it has allocated €138 million by way of a development fund for Zimbabwe. One can only pray that this money finds its intended recipients.
One possible explanation for Zuma’s policy could be an exit strategy for the ZANU-PF top brass. In the case of Mugabe dying, or ZANU-PF losing the next election (no, I didn’t manage to type that without a wry smile), perhaps Zuma is negotiating a deal with them for a safe passage to escape prosecution, in return for granting concessions to the disputed GPA. But even this possibility sounds like a long shot.
Zuma’s tenure as president is not quite over yet, and he has time to turn it around. But up to now it has been very disappointing. Not only has he failed to deal with Mugabe, but his treatment of Zimbabwean refugees in South Africa has been less than appealing. I hope I’m proved wrong.
