Prev: Zimbabwe gem sale stirs 'blood diamond' fears
Next: Tsvangirai To Attend SADC Summit In Namibia
From: as on 13 Aug 2010 04:55
'Zimbabwe is on the correct path'

http://www.mg.co.za/

PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA Aug 12 2010 14:29

President Jacob Zuma will tell a regional summit next week that
Zimbabwe is
"on the correct path" under its unity government, a Foreign Ministry
official said on Thursday.

Zuma is the official mediator in Zimbabwe for the 15-nation Southern
African
Development Community (SADC), which holds its annual summit on Monday
and
Tuesday in Namibia.

"He will recognise that the task in Zimbabwe is not completed but the
overwhelming picture is favourable," Foreign Ministry Director General
Ayanda Ntsaluba told a news conference in Pretoria.

"There is a semblance of stability and Zimbabwe is on the correct
path,"
Ntsaluba said.

Zuma visited Zimbabwe in March to press long-ruling President Robert
Mugabe
and the new Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, to settle their
differences
over a raft of key government appointments and to press forward the
reform
process.

No progress has been made on resolving the dispute over Mugabe's
unilateral
appointments of the Reserve Bank governor and Attorney General.

Referendum
Under the power-sharing pact, Zimbabwe should have held a referendum on
a
new constitution last month, which would pave the way for fresh
elections
after the violent and inconclusive polls in 2008.

The constitutional process has barely gotten off the ground, but the
new
government has halted Zimbabwe's stunning economic freefall by
abandoning
the local currency in favour of US dollars and opening up the market to
imports.

Media reforms have allowed foreign reporters greater access to the
country
while a new independent newspaper is on the streets, with others in the
works. Electoral and human rights reforms, however, are proving tougher
to
implement.

South Africa also backed Zimbabwe's sale of an estimated $72-million-
worth
of diamonds on Wednesday, in the first approved auction of the gems
from its
Marange fields since the global "blood diamonds" watchdog partially
lifted a
ban.

"This is a legitimate process and Zimbabwe is beginning to use its
natural
resources to improve the lives of its people," Ntsaluba said. -- AFP

 | 
Pages: 1
Prev: Zimbabwe gem sale stirs 'blood diamond' fears
Next: Tsvangirai To Attend SADC Summit In Namibia