This was the last straw desperate MDC-T and Tsvangirai apologists were clinging to, that Jacob Zuma would read Mugabe the riot act, unlike the hated Mbeki. On Saturday, Mugabe was pallying around with Zuma at the SADc Heads of State meeting in Johannesburg as can be seen here. Then King Mswati emerged to tell reporters that no one had written to them to complain about Zimbabwe and they will, therefore, not be discussing it. The MDC-T leadership meets today in Harare in a panic response to this development. They will only issue more meaningless deadlines and resolutions that are not very resolute at all.
It is now official.
King Mswati, who was living it up with Mugabe and Gideon Gono at Gono's Farm a couple of weeks back, has said that "no official" complaint has been lodged with SADC about Zimbabwe's new government and that he was in Zimbabwe, where he saw for himself that everything is just fine.
Tsvangirai, through his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party, wrote last week to President Jacob Zuma , who is the Sadc chairman, urging him to intervene in the stalemate, and to get Sadc to intervene in the deadlock over the appointment of Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono and attorney-general Johannes Tomana, who are Mugabe loyalists.
Now SADC say they never received such a letter. No "official" communication.
There is nothing to investigate, SADC says.
King Mswati, the despot of Swaziland, is the Chairman of the SADC Organ on Defence and Politics. This is the Organ that deals officially with the Zimbabwe issue.
The MDC-T has been rattled enough by the jeering in London and this latest rebuff from SADC to call for a special meeting of its Executive today.
They will meet today, yes.
But nothing will come of it.
SADC was meeting at the weekend to discuss Mauritius, whose exiled leader is cooling his heels in South Africa and there had been talk that Zimbabwe would be discussed, especially since the MDC-T claimed they had sent a letter to the regional body.
Tsvangirai sabotaged his own party on this one. He bought Mugabe's argument (flawed) that only if there is agreement amongst ALL the Principals in the Unity Government that there was an impasse could the matter be referred to SADC.
Unfortunately for the MDC-T, their principal agrees with Mugabe that not swearing in Roy Bennett, not swearing in ambassadors, Governors etc can not be considered an impasse.
As Tsvangirai drags them towards the cliff, there to fall off into oblivion and irrelevance, all the MDC-T can do at the moment is consult and discuss.
But nothing will come of it.
SADC was meeting at the weekend to discuss Mauritius, whose exiled leader is cooling his heels in South Africa and there had been talk that Zimbabwe would be discussed, especially since the MDC-T claimed they had sent a letter to the regional body.
Tsvangirai sabotaged his own party on this one. He bought Mugabe's argument (flawed) that only if there is agreement amongst ALL the Principals in the Unity Government that there was an impasse could the matter be referred to SADC.
Unfortunately for the MDC-T, their principal agrees with Mugabe that not swearing in Roy Bennett, not swearing in ambassadors, Governors etc can not be considered an impasse.
As Tsvangirai drags them towards the cliff, there to fall off into oblivion and irrelevance, all the MDC-T can do at the moment is consult and discuss.
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