SOUTH AFRICA: South Africa's President Jacob Zuma says Zimbabwe can move forward

Record ID: 455845

  • Title: SOUTH AFRICA: South Africa's President Jacob Zuma says Zimbabwe can move forward
  • Date: 4th August 2009
  • Summary: JOHANNESBURG; SOUTH AFRICA ( AUGUST 03, 2009) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS (ANC) HEADQUARTERS, CHIEF ALBERT LUTHULI HOUSE, IN DOWNTOWN JOHANNESBURG SIGN READING "CHIEF ALBERT LUTHULI HOUSE" SECURITY AND MEDIA WAITING OUTSIDE ZIMBABWE PRIME MINISTER MORGAN TSVANGIRAI ARRIVES MEDIA WAITING WITH CAMERAS TSVANGIRAI AND SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT JACOB ZUMA ARRIVING TO ADDRESS THE MEDIA MORE OF THE MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (English) ZIMBABWE PRIME MINISTER MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, SAYING: "I am very grateful that comrade President understands our situation and would like to do everything in his power to make sure that we move forward in a positive way" (SOUNDBITE) (English) SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT, JACOB ZUMA, SAYING: "I will contacting His Excellency President Mugabe on the matter as well as the leader of another party Mutambabara on the issues that the Prime Minister has raised, but also i will contact our colleagues in the region to sensitise them on what the Prime Minister has briefed me on, with the soul aim of saying how we could continue working together to make quick progress in Zimbabwe, that's all, and I am sure all the issues are clear" TSVANGIRAI AND ZUMA SHAKING HANDS SOUTH AFRICAN PRISONERS' ORGANISATION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS (SAPOHR) REPRESENTATIVE, GOLDEN MILES BUDU PROTESTING WITH A PLACARD READING: "PRIME MINISTER TSVANGIRAI STOP THE GENOCIDE IN YOUR JAILS-SAPOHR" (SOUNDBITE) (English) SOUTH AFRICAN PRISONERS' ORGANISATION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS (SAPOHR) REPRESENTATIVE, GOLDEN MILES BUDU, SAYING: "It must come to an end that Zimbabwe become South Africa's problem and comrade Jacob Zuma must make it very clear to him, that the genocide must stop in Zimbabwean prisons." MORE OF BUDU
  • Embargoed: 19th August 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: South Africa
  • Country: South Africa
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA75HGQUGK7DFKZRBMHWYKQZLJZ
  • Story Text: Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai met South African President Jacob Zuma on Monday at the ruling party headquarters to discuss issues of the unity government in Zimbabwe.
    Zimbabwe's new unity government still has some difficult issues to grapple with, but the country is in a position to move forward, South African President Jacob Zuma said on Monday (August 3) after meeting Zimbabwe's prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai in Johannesburg.
    A unity government formed in February by President Robert Mugabe and his rival Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is battling to pull the country out of economic ruin, but political tensions remain.
    "I am very grateful that comrade president understands our situation and would like to do everything in his power to make sure that we move forward in a positive way," Tsvangirai told the media at Chief Albert Luthuli House, the African National Congress (ANC) headquarters in Johannesburg.
    The MDC accuses Mugabe's ZANU-PF of instigating arrests of lawmakers to whittle its slim majority in parliament and says some senior security officers are plotting to derail the new administration.
    "I will contacting His Excellency President Mugabe on the matter as well as the leader of another party Mutambabara on the issues that the Prime Minister has raised, but also I will contact our colleagues in the region to sensitise them on what the Prime Minister has briefed me on, with the soul aim of saying how we could continue working together to make quick progress in Zimbabwe, that's all, and I am sure all the issues are clear," added president Zuma.
    Zimbabwe's government says it needs about $10 billion in foreign aid to help repair an economy which last year saw inflation surge to over 500 billion percent, according to the IMF.
    But many international donors say they will only give massive support when the new administration implements radical reforms, including firm commitment to private property rights.
    The Movement for Democratic Change and human rights activists say they continue to be arrested and tortured in detention.
    "It must come to an end that Zimbabwe become South Africa's problem and comrade Jacob Zuma must make it very clear to him, that the genocide must stop i n Zimbabwean prisons," said South African Prisoners' Organisation for Human Rights president Golden Miles Budu, protesting outside the ANC Headquarters.
    Many Western countries imposed sanctions on Mugabe's ZANU-PF government over charges of human rights abuses, vote-rigging and its seizures of white-owned commercial farms for redistribution to blacks without paying compensation.
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