Hon Chairperson and hon members, yes, the South African government has on a number of occasions engaged all the parties to the Global Political Agreement with a view to supporting the full implementation of the agreement. Not so long ago, President Jacob Zuma visited Zimbabwe to facilitate further discussions between all parties concerned; this was in addition to numerous other engagements facilitated by South African envoys.
Given ongoing engagements, the constitution-drafting process and repeated assurances from all parties concerned, the South African government remains optimistic that all outstanding contentious issues will be resolved, thus paving the way for free and fair elections in the near future.
Zimbabwean leaders are aware that this matter is and must be treated as a priority for the future of their own country, Southern Africa, as well as the entire continent of Africa. I thank you.
Hon Lees, do you have a follow-up?
Hon Chair, indeed I do. Hon Deputy President, if indeed the situation is resolving itself as you say it is, then is there not a contradiction in the fact that the president of Zimbabwe, Mr Mugabe, has announced that the elections will proceed whether or not a new constitution or amendments to the constitution are completed?
Thank you, hon Lees. Chairperson, as I tried to explain, as recently as February 22 to 24, the South African facilitation team went to Zimbabwe to meet with a number of agencies and bodies, including the human rights commission and political parties - Zanu-PF, the MDC's Tsvangirai, Mutambara and Ncube - and all of them agreed to a working timetable aimed at producing the road map to the next elections.
The next elections are viewed by all parties as a watershed election, and therefore they have to prepare for them thoroughly to ensure that there would not be any more violence and intimidation during the course of the election campaign. Hence the team had to meet with the human rights commission as well, not just the electoral commission and the political parties.
According to their work plan, the facilitation team is meant to go back to Zimbabwe by 10 March, so that they pull together this road map; it is only on the basis of that road map that the election date can be set.
I think, sometimes, either out of enthusiasm or frustration, some of the political parties in Zimbabwe even threaten to pull out of the inclusive government and that kind of stuff. The reality is that they are all committed to producing this road map towards the elections and to ensuring that the elections are indeed free and fair. I thank you.
Chairperson, first of all, we need to emphasise South Africa's policy position on the political situation in Zimbabwe, for instance, our insistence that we need to build a long-lasting political situation in Zimbabwe and that such a solution should be premised on the will of the people of Zimbabwe. Therefore, the question is: How do we channel our efforts towards supporting a conducive environment for the 2012 elections in Zimbabwe and deal with the economic and social challenges resulting from the current political situation in Zimbabwe?
Chairperson and hon Sibande, thank you very much. The answer is the same really, that all parties in the inclusive government are signatories to the global political agreement, which provides for the establishment of what they call Jomic, the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee, and it is that structure which is keeping an eye on what work is being done, as well as ensuring that all the issues, contentious and otherwise, in the whole matrix of implementation are addressed and implemented.
Remember that economic recovery can only happen if there is political stability. As long as the political environment is unstable, economic recovery would progress very slowly, and all parties are aware of this. You will recall that they come from the brink of the abyss because their economy was run on a cash basis, at some point. Now they use normal currency which counts in normal figures, no longer billions and so on. Ordinary people cannot count in billions and trillions; that in itself means that there is steady economic recovery taking place there. I thank you.
Thank you, Chair, and thank you to the Deputy President. Listening to the Deputy President responding, the problem that I have is that there is an impression out there, inside and outside the country, that South Africa should behave like a big brother to Zimbabwe, with a stick; that we should just move into Zimbabwe, and just whip everybody. Would I therefore be correct to say, in so far as the interventions are concerned, working together with the SADC institutions and with our own capacity as well, we have done and are continuing to do our best to ensure that Zimbabwe becomes one of the model countries, especially in the SADC region, for the betterment of the lives of the people of Zimbabwe? I thank you.
Chairperson and hon members, yes indeed, what we always need to bear in mind is that the Zimbabwean nationals are their own liberators. The role that we have to play as South Africa is a supportive role, to nudge and encourage them to move in the direction of a full democracy and the creation of a stable political environment. In that sense we ourselves would not employ methods that would undermine the will of the Zimbabwean people. It is the will of the Zimbabwean people which must determine the future of Zimbabwe as a country.
And it is in our interests as a country that indeed they succeed in that direction, because if they fail and Zimbabwe implodes, the border between Zimbabwe and South Africa will, literally, disappear. We would sit with all the problems. I think we have already had a taste of it. That is why our approach is one that steadily ensures that they move in the right direction. I thank you.
Hon Chairperson, through you to the Deputy President: It is indeed encouraging to hear your comments about the progress being made. We look forward to seeing the outcome of those free and fair elections. It is indeed very sad that it has taken some 10 years of instability, violence and repercussions for us as a country to get there.
What concerns me is that you, quite correctly, say that economic growth is dependent upon stability, and that the stability is not yet there in political terms. However, that stability, we had assumed, would be put in place by the unity government. In your opinion, why has that stability not resulted from that unity government?
In addition, hon Deputy President, you talk about a coming election, free from violence. Is it not true that violence on quite a large scale continues as we speak and that state violence, in the form of arrests and so on, continues as we speak, or is that again just something that the press invents? Thank you.
That was actually more of a political statement that you were making, Mr Lees, than a follow-up question, but if the Deputy President wants to remark on it, I would not mind.
Chairperson, earlier on I alluded to the facilitation team meeting with the human rights commission. It is indeed the concern of the human rights commission that the next election should be treated as a watershed transitional election, so that Zimbabwe as a country bucks the trend of election campaigns that are characterised by violence, intimidation and so on. The inclusive government has actually brought them back from the brink of the abyss. The governor of the central bank was running the economy on a cash basis, with no credit whatsoever. Today, the banks are working better, and the commercial shops have goods and commodities. So there has been steady improvement.
Of course, sometimes old habits die hard. The law enforcement units there are used to dealing with citizens a bit harshly. Those kinds of happenings are still taking place; this was confirmed in those meetings with the various political parties, including Zanu-PF itself, which had its own complaints as well.
However, the point is that Jomic, this joint structure that looks at monitoring and implementation, is active, and the human rights commission is of the view that this watershed election would require not just election observers. In fact, they compared these impending elections to the 1980 elections that happened in the old Rhodesia, which gave birth to Zimbabwe; that there would be a need for an international presence on the same scale to ensure that there will be a break with the past trend. I thank you.
Development of approach by government ito addressing social needs of new generation affected by and infected with HIV/Aids and government's engagement with teachers' union and school governing bodies relating to expansion of voluntary testing campaigns at school
4. Mr S S Mazosiwe (ANC) asked the Deputy President:
(1) Whether the government has (a) any strategies or (b) engaged any structures such as the SA National Aids Council to look at developing an approach towards addressing social needs of the new generation of those affected by and infected with HIV/Aids, who are currently cared for by institutions such as homes and hospices, and would be required to leave when they are 18 years old; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
(2) whether the government engaged organised teachers' unions and school governing bodies when the decision was taken to expand HIV/Aids voluntary testing campaigns at schools; if not, why not; if so, (a) what was the general response in this regard, (b) what mechanisms will the government put in place to ensure the confidentiality of the results and (c) what support mechanisms will be made available for learners who are HIV-positive?