Sapa Published:Aug 11, 2008

Vavi calls for isolation of Mugabe, Mswati

ZIMBABWE and Swaziland cannot continue to be islands of dictatorship surrounded by a sea of democracy in our region, Zwelinzima Vavi, the general secretary of labour federation Cosatu, said yesterday.

“We demand freedom and democracy for citizens of both countries, today and not tomorrow,” Vavi said during his opening address at the Zimbabwe and Swaziland Solidarity Conference.

Vavi said they would fight until the last drop of blood to free people, not only from the bondage of oppression and repression, but from the clutches of poverty.

He said human-rights abuses in Zimbabwe had scaled new heights, and continued as though current negotiations meant nothing to President Robert Mugabe’s regime.

Wishing President Thabo Mbeki and all other parties involved in the Zimbabwe negotiations success, Vavi said he would not give them unconditional support because any settlement that does not recognise the will of the people, as expressed in the March 29 elections, will not be acceptable.

Referring to rumours of a settlement, Vavi said: “We shall, accordingly, continue to pile [on] pressure until a settlement is reached that is based on our demands.”

He reiterated the views of countries such as Botswana, saying Mugabe should not be invited to the SADC heads of state summit to be held in South Africa from August 15 to 17 because he was not recognised as a legitimate president.

Vavi called on all Cosatu members and civil society formations in Gauteng to join a march on August 16 to show “disgust” at Mugabe’s presence.

“We want a total isolation of Mugabe and his cronies.”

Vavi said Swaziland’s King Mswati was also not welcome in the country .

“He is not a head of state. There has never been any democratic election in Swaziland where he was elected. We are angry that the SADC and others continue to embrace this fraud,” he said.