Zanu-PF, MDC in Pretoria talks

HARARE – Representatives of Zimbabwe’s ruling party and main opposition held their first direct talks in Pretoria this weekend as part of South Africa’s bid to mediate an end to their feud, the parties said yesterday.

“I can only confirm that we have representatives in South Africa attending roundtable discussions with the country’s other political players,” Nelson Chamisa, spokesman for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), told AFP. “In the interest of diplomacy, I am under instructions not to comment or give any more detail until such a time when both parties have agreed to make a statement.”Officials from the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) could not be immediately reached for comment.However the state-run Herald newspaper quoted the party’s secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa, confirming that discussions were under way in Pretoria between the two parties.”The officials are still in South Africa,” the newspaper quoted Mutasa as saying.”We are not yet sure whether they have finished.”He said Zanu-PF was represented by Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa and Labour and Social Welfare Minister Nicholas Goche.Simmering tensions between President Robert Mugabe’s governing party and the MDC further deteriorated in March when security forces thwarting an anti-government rally gunned down two opposition activists and beat up opposition officials including leader Morgan Tsvangirai.Southern African leaders meeting in Tanzania in March appointed South African President Thabo Mbeki to facilitate talks between the parties in the run-up to presidential and parliamentary elections due next year.Zimbabwe is also in the throes of chronic crises characterised by perennial shortages of basic foodstuffs like sugar and cooking oil while the country’s world-record inflation, which was expected to be announced last week, is estimated at 4,530 per cent.Mbeki, who has been blamed for his quiet diplomacy approach to the Zimbabwe crisis, has mediated in the crisis for years.Nampa-AFP”In the interest of diplomacy, I am under instructions not to comment or give any more detail until such a time when both parties have agreed to make a statement.”Officials from the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) could not be immediately reached for comment.However the state-run Herald newspaper quoted the party’s secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa, confirming that discussions were under way in Pretoria between the two parties.”The officials are still in South Africa,” the newspaper quoted Mutasa as saying.”We are not yet sure whether they have finished.”He said Zanu-PF was represented by Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa and Labour and Social Welfare Minister Nicholas Goche.Simmering tensions between President Robert Mugabe’s governing party and the MDC further deteriorated in March when security forces thwarting an anti-government rally gunned down two opposition activists and beat up opposition officials including leader Morgan Tsvangirai.Southern African leaders meeting in Tanzania in March appointed South African President Thabo Mbeki to facilitate talks between the parties in the run-up to presidential and parliamentary elections due next year.Zimbabwe is also in the throes of chronic crises characterised by perennial shortages of basic foodstuffs like sugar and cooking oil while the country’s world-record inflation, which was expected to be announced last week, is estimated at 4,530 per cent.Mbeki, who has been blamed for his quiet diplomacy approach to the Zimbabwe crisis, has mediated in the crisis for years.Nampa-AFP