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Zanu
PF boycotts SA polls meeting
Dumisani
Muleya, The Zimbabwe Independent
October 08, 2004
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/news/2004/October/Friday8/754.html
THE ruling Zanu
PF this week boycotted a South African Council of Churches (SACC)-organised
meeting to discuss elections in Zimbabwe. Despite being invited,
Zanu PF did not attend the crucial conference.
The opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) attended the meeting which
drew participants from South Africa and Zimbabwe.
The MDC was
represented by senior officials who included its secretary-general
Welshman Ncube and spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi.
Speaking yesterday
after returning from the two-day conference in Pretoria, Nyathi
said the meeting was "very helpful".
"The meeting
was extremely useful because it showed that more and more South
Africans now understand what is going on in Zimbabwe and are seriously
concerned," Nyathi said.
"They have realised
how serious the Zimbabwe crisis has become because of the growing
number of Zimbabwean political and economic refugees crossing the
border into their country, both legally and illegally."
Nyathi said
many countries in the region were now aware of the disastrous economic
crisis engulfing Zimbabwe. He said human rights abuses, suppression
of political and civil liberties could no longer be hidden behind
the smokescreen of land reform and anti-imperialist rhetoric.
"Everybody now
knows the disaster unfolding in Zimbabwe is due to a failed leadership
and policies," Nyathi said.
The conference
was organised by the South African Council of Churches in partnership
with the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference, the Centre
for Policy Studies (CPS), the Institute for Democratic Alternative
in South Africa and the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation
to help Zimbabwe build consensus on the barest minimum standards
for elections.
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