16 April 2009

Bulawayo — SADC has dispatched teams of ministers to the United States and European Union to lobby for the lifting of the illegal economic sanctions and canvass for economic support for the inclusive Government, a South African minister has said.

South Africa's Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said four teams were set up for the purpose as the anti-sanctions lobby gathers momentum.

"Sadc has sent four groups to go and lobby for economic aid and lifting of sanctions against Zimbabwe in a move meant to speed up economic recovery of Zimbabwe," she said.

Dr Dlamini-Zuma said this yesterday during an election debate broadcast on South African Broadcasting Corporation 2 as she responded to criticism from a Democratic Alliance representative who had claimed that South African foreign policy was flawed especially when it came to Zimbabwe and China.

At the extraordinary summit held in Mbabane, Swaziland last month, Sadc leaders set up a committee of finance ministers that was tasked to hit the ground running in lobbying countries that imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe to lift them and to approach multilateral lending institutions to restore the country's lines of credit.

Turning to Sadc's pledge to help Zimbabwe raise US$8,3 billion to finance the Short-Term Emergency Recovery Programme, Dr Dlamini-Zuma stressed that Sadc member states would not raise the money themselves, but would try to mobilise it from international donors and multilateral institutions.

When asked about whether South Africans themselves would have accepted an inclusive government, Dr Dlamini-Zuima said South Africans had already done that when the National Party under FW de Klerk shared power with the ANC when former president Nelson Mandela was head of state.

"South Africa has already been involved in a power-sharing deal before, when the ANC shared power with the National Party," she said.

Contributing to the same debate, Mr Bantu Holomisa of the United Democratic Movement also defended the South African foreign policy on Zimbabwe saying the inclusive Government was the best under the circumstances.

"UDM recognises the inclusive Government in Zimbabwe and supports it and I disagree with people who wanted South Africa to treat Zimbabwe as a province of South Africa," he said.

On another note, Dr Dlamini-Zuma said South Africa's foreign policy was independent and not influenced by China.

"We decide our foreign policy as a sovereign country, no country has come to us and told us what to do. We believe in solving all conflicts through peaceful means and we have done that since 1994 and we will continue to do that," she said.

Pretoria came under fire recently after asking exiled Tibetan secessionist, the Dalai Lama to postpone his planned visit to South Africa. The opposition in that country accused the government of bowing to pressure from China, one of South Africa's largest trading partners.

Dr Dlamini-Zuma said the Dalai Lama was not banned from South Africa but he was asked to defer his visit to a later date. "When a person who wants to come and visit you says to you 'please come next week I would not be available this week'. Is that banishment?" she asked. -- Bulawayo Bureau-Herald Reporter.