Govt satisfied with Zim decision

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Pretoria - Government is satisfied by the agreement reached between Zimbabwe's ZANU-PF and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) recently, says International Relations and Cooperation Director General, Ayanda Ntsaluba.

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai announced that his party would end its boycott of the country's unity deal and give President Robert Mugabe's party 30 days to fulfill its commitment under their power sharing agreement.

Ntsaluba, speaking at a media briefing on South Africa's international engagements on Tuesday, said he hoped that despite their differences, the two parties would be able to engage in a meaningful and constructive way.

"We are indeed very happy that the MDC has gone back to the inclusive government and encouraged by the fact that all parties in Zimbabwe, regardless of the differences, communicated very clearly to the heads of the region that the inclusive government is the only game in town and that everything should be done to make sure that the inclusive government becomes successful.

"We are very happy, particularly about the decisions that have been taken regarding the timeline to attend to all outstanding matters within about 15 days, maximum 30 days after which we would expect that there would be verification by the organ Troika to see that indeed that the decisions that would have been taken have been taken," said the Director General.

Meanwhile, with regard to the release of the five South African mercenaries from Equatorial Guinea, Ntsaluba said all due processes had been followed by the government of Guinea.

"The relevant authorities in South Africa were informed that this was going to happen. South Africa did not register any opposition to that given that this was a sovereign decision following the processes of the presidential pardon in Guinea."

He added that South African law would regard this situation as "closed and no other action will be taken."