ANC Team to Press Zimbabwe on Power-Sharing Deal
JOHANNESBURG – South Africa's ruling party boss Jacob Zuma said on Monday that he will send a team to push for a power-sharing deal in Zimbabwe, warning of growing fears that the country could collapse. The African National Congress (ANC) has decided to send a delegation to meet with the rival parties of President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, Zuma told reporters.
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He said the team would "encourage them to commit to an agreement" on forming a unity government under a power-sharing deal signed more than two months ago.
"Let us find a way to implement the agreement for the sake of Zimbabweans. We cannot stay with the agreement without implementing it. It is now an urgent matter, because people are dying," he said.
Zuma spoke after meeting with former UN secretary general Kofi Annan and former US president Jimmy Carter, who were denied visas for a humanitarian mission they had planned for last weekend.
Annan and Carter belong to a group of respected global statesmen known as the Elders, which had hoped to find ways of easing Zimbabwe's humanitarian plight as a cholera outbreak has claimed nearly 300 lives.
"The Elders believe the situation in Zimbabwe is very bad. They believe that things could collapse in a few months time," Zuma said.
"The Elders indicated that there is a great need for the leaders in Zimbabwe on both sides to take into consideration the interests of their people," Zuma said.
"There is an outbreak of cholera. We got it from Zimbabwe. So we are not dealing with a theoretical situation. We are a dealing with a situation that is affecting the lives of people."
Four people have died in South Africa of cholera, while 168 people have come from Zimbabwe to seek treatment for the disease.
Zimbabwe's hospitals lack even basic drugs and equipment, while a breakdown in sanitation has sparked outbreaks of cholera across the country.
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