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Mugabe invites archbishop to mediate
Erika de Beer, IOL (SA)
January 31, 2003

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has invited the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town Njongonkulu Ndungane to play a mediating role - possibly between Britain and Zimbabwe - to resolve that country's economic and political problems. Ndungane returned to South Africa on Friday after meeting Mugabe in Harare. "I'm very hopeful... it opens a new window," Ndungane said at Johannesburg International Airport en route from Zimbabwe to Cape Town, where he is based. He was accompanied by SA Council of Churches general secretary Molefe Tsele. "The fact that we were invited to get involved in the negotiations is a step in the right direction," the archbishop said. "According to me, the problems of Zimbabwe are not insurmountable," Ndungane said. Mugabe had told them that in his view, the root cause of the current problems was the fact that British Prime Minister Tony Blair had reneged on certain agreements regarding compensation for land used for reform that his predecessors, Margaret Thatcher and John Major, had made. "I can't verify that," Ndungane said. Because Mugabe cited Britain, Ndungane said, his first step would be to contact his British counterpart, the Archbishop of Canterbury, to convey the president's views to him.

Ndungane would also seek a meeting with South African President Thabo Mbeki to discuss the matter with him. "What we want to do is to get in touch with all the stakeholders." Tsele said the food shortage in Zimbabwe was the reason they went to see Mugabe in the first place. Ndungane said: "We have been inundated with letters requesting us to do something about Zimbabwe." Although Zimbabwe was not in his jurisdiction, he decided to go there to, for a start, listen to what Mugabe had to say. "The first thing I decided to do was to meet the president, to hear from the horse's mouth, so to speak." Mugabe had granted them a two-and-a-half hour audience. During the meeting, they raised the question of the political control over food aid, Tsele said. Mugabe had told them the World Food Programme had recently established a structure including 12 non-governmental organisations to monitor the situation. "There is a sensitivity that where people are hungry... it is immoral to withhold food." He believed the structure could work, Tsele said.

He and Ndungane had also asked ministers of the church on the ground to inform of any instances where people in need of food aid were asked to produce a party membership card first. So far, reports of such instances were just hear-say, Tsele said. Mugabe was very relaxed during their meeting, he said. "He does not deny there is a problem." Mugabe had also said he was open to a diversity of political parties in his country, Ndungane said. The archbishop said he would eventually meet all the different stakeholders in an effort to move towards a peaceful, stable Zimbabwe. "Watch this space as it unfolds." To solve the problems, would require creative, open minds, Ndungane said. "My belief is that if we as South Africa could solve our problems, Zimbabwe can do so too."

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