MDC leader Welshman Ncube yesterday said his relationship with South African President Jacob Zuma does not compromise the Sadc mediator in the Zimbabwe political talks as claimed by Zanu PF.
Ncube’s son Wesley is married to Zuma’s daughter Gugu and Zanu PF politburo member Jonathan Moyo at the weekend claimed this had influenced Sadc’s decision to stop recognising Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara as a principal in terms of the Global Political Agreement.
Mutambara also attacked Zuma, saying he was using the family ties to assist his rival in their fight for the control of the MDC.
But Ncube told NewsDay in an interview that his relationship with both Zuma and his former wife Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who is now the African Union (AU) chairperson, was “irrelevant on the Zimbabwe issue”.
“They are both seasoned politicians and not two-year-old kids who would be influenced by the exigencies of the moment.
“They have an understanding of how international issues are handled,” he said.
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“He cannot dictate to any of the parties, so it’s totally irrelevant that Jacob Zuma is related to myself one way or the other so he will be biased towards me which is why there has never been a single complaint at any of the Sadc summits by any of the parties that the facilitator has been biased. “The Commission chair implements the resolutions of the AU summits and there is very little influence that a chair has.
“The AU position on Zimbabwe is a position that can only be determined by the AU summit and not by the commission chair herself.”
Moyo said Ncube “must refrain from pushing his in-laws in South Africa to bid for his politically-hopeless and illegal cause”.
Mutambara made way for Ncube at the MDC congress last year as party leader, but refused to be recalled from the DPM’s post and challenged the outcome of the congress at the High Court and lost the case.
He has since appealed to the Supreme Court including in a case where the High Court ruled he cannot continue “masquerading as a principal”.