Mbeki's conflict of interest in Zimbabwe negotiation

Washington Posts:

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Mbeki "respects Mugabe," said Tendai Biti, secretary general of the Movement for Democratic Change, Tsvangirai's party. "He's personally indebted to Mugabe because he looked after him during the struggle" against apartheid.

"Whatever exists between Mbeki and Mugabe doesn't exist between Mbeki and Tsvangirai," Biti said.

Mbeki's approach has produced some moments that caused even supporters to cringe.

On April 12, when southern African regional leaders gathered in neighboring Zambia for an emergency meeting on the Zimbabwean crisis, Mugabe refused to attend but Mbeki met with him anyway, in Harare. Photographers captured the two men, dressed almost identically in suits, wearing necklaces of fresh blossoms, smiling broadly as they clasped hands like old friends. In a news conference that day, Mbeki questioned whether there was a "crisis" in Zimbabwe at all.

Also damaging was Mbeki's attempt to host a mediation session on July 5, a week after Mugabe had declared victory in a reelection campaign that left nearly 100 opposition activists dead and thousands of others injured. Tsvangirai withdrew from the election and said there could be no negotiations until the attacks on his supporters ended.

Mbeki ignored that condition and invited Tsvangirai to meet with Mugabe at his official residence, a setting that opposition leaders said would have conveyed an air of legitimacy to the election. Tsvangirai boycotted the meeting.

Swazi election observer Marwick T. Khumalo, a member of the Pan-African Parliament, said that proposing talks at Mugabe's residence showed "bad taste" on Mbeki's part.

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This was buried on the second page of the story, but it reveals why Mbeki has been so spectacularly unsuccessful in attempting to broker a deal. He may have Mugabe's trust but he is so indebted to him that he will never have the trust of the opposition in Zimbabwe. I think he also is in agreement with Mugabe on his most disastrous policy--taking the firms of the competent and giving them to the incompetent for racial reasons.