South African President Thabo Mbeki Endorses Mugabe

South African President Thabo Mbeki said Monday that his country would recognise Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, who was inaugurated on Sunday for a further five-year term, as the winner of the one-man election race held on Friday — in a bid to find a negotiated settlement to that country’s political crisis.

“Mbeki wants Mugabe endorsed in the interests of his mediation,” presidential spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga said on Monday. “If he says Mugabe’s re-election is illegitimate, he won’t be able to continue in his mediation role.”

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said Mugabe won 85.5% of the vote on Friday, compared with 43.2% in the March election, which opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change won with 47.9 %. The commission said voter turnout was 42.4%, almost exactly the same as on March 29.

Mbeki’s move to endorse Mugabe’s purported victory after Tsvangirai pulled out would divide the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union (AU).

The Pan-African Parliament has rejected Mugabe’s re-election and called for a rerun, highlighting divisions in Africa over the issue.

Source African Press Agency

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