Zuma’s Troubleshooters to Stay Put

Dumisani Muleya

17 June 2011

WHILE Zimbabwean authorities, mainly from President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF side of the inclusive government, are complaining about how South African President Jacob Zuma’s facilitators have behaved, their counterparts in Pretoria are pleased with their team which is daringly ruffling feathers in the corridors of power in Harare.

Mugabe’s political allies and Zanu PF officials have publicly expressed their displeasure and even anger at Zuma’s team, particularly its assertive spokesperson Lindiwe Zulu, who has been speaking truth to power.

State media reports, which usually reflect the Zanu PF position, recently said Mugabe’s party had complained to Zuma’s governing ANC about Zulu’s approach which has made them uncomfortable. Zulu usually speaks a lot to the media about the ongoing negotiations between Zimbabwean political parties on the elections roadmap, perhaps because she has some media background.

This has attracted the wrath of Mugabe and his supporters who accuse Zulu of being irresponsible in her remarks. Zanu PF officials have been gratuitously insulting Zuma’s facilitators describing them as “either incompetent or dangerously partisan”.

Jonathan Moyo, who has been spearheading attacks on Zuma and his team, recently claimed the facilitators were “self-evidently ignorant of our constitution, laws, institutions and policy processes”.

The state media, apparently influenced by Mugabe’s malicious spin-doctors, has even claimed Zuma “cannot run a spaza shop”.

Zulu has however hit back, saying Zuma and his team would not waste their time engaging fringe players who were “outside the mediation process”.

The Zimbabwe Independent engaged senior South African officials and diplomats during the just-ended Sadc summit in Sandton, Johannesburg, on whether Zuma would resultantly be forced to reshuffle his team or replace it altogether in the face of such withering criticism verging on personal abuse from Mugabe’s camp.

A senior Zuma political advisor said the South African facilitation team would not be changed because it had served its principal well, not just in Zimbabwe but also in other trouble-spots, including Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sudan.

“The team will not be changed under any circumstances because it has served the president well in different countries, including Burundi, DRC, Sudan and now Zimbabwe,” the official said.

“It’s only people who don’t know the full history and background of these current facilitators who would accuse them of being uninformed, incompetent or such other slurs which are completely unjustifiable and unwarranted.

“This team comprises hardened former guerilla fighters, who also went to school and have experience in dealings with conflicts and negotiations. Yes, it’s different from (former South African president Thabo) Mbeki’s team which had technocrats and not guerrillas.”

Mbeki’s envoys, who brokered the GPA before they were replaced when their principal was forced out by Zuma and his supporters, included Sydney Mufamadi, Frank Chikane and Mujanku Gumbi. Although the three were involved in South Africa’s liberation struggle they were seen as technocrats and savvy diplomats who were able to engage persuasively without exhibiting too many rough edges as the Zuma squad which critics claim uses “more brawn than brains”.

In Mufamadi, for example, Mbeki’s team had an experienced minister and political player who was also educated and could engage in polished discussions which would not ruffle the feathers of Mugabe’s team.

Mufamadi holds a Master of Science degree in State, Society and Development from the University of London and is a doctoral candidate in the Political Economy of Automotive Manufacturing. Like Chikane, he had United Democratic Front roots which legitimised him as a liberation struggle participant. As an advocate at the Pretoria Bar and Mbeki’s legal advisor, Gumbi was also seen in the same light as a technocrat and polished facilitator.

“Mbeki liked these educated and sophisticated people who would engage in ‘quiet diplomacy’ and not ‘megaphone diplomacy’,” another South Africa official said. “This does not mean Zuma’s people are not educated and sophisticated. They have a different background from those Mbeki deployed and this is now showing in their approach and management of the negotiations. Both teams had their strengths and weaknesses, so it’s not easy to say which team is better than the other. Besides, they are dealing with different stages of negotiations under different political and economic conditions. The dynamics have changed and it’s difficult to judge them.”

While Mbeki’s envoys were seen as experts, Zuma’s facilitators are seen as pedestrians in Zanu PF circles. Zuma assembled a team of former guerrillas and Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation) old hands which included veteran nationalist Sathyandranath Ragunanan “Mac” Maharaj, Charles Nqakula and Lindiwe Zulu.

Although they are also educated, they have different backgrounds, having fought in and outside South Africa for the liberation of their country.

Maharaj is particularly the distinguishing factor. As a former political activist, Robben Island prisoner alongside Nelson Mandela and other ANC luminaries, Umkhonto we Sizwe commander (he commanded Operation Vula — an underground operation of armed resistance to apartheid), negotiator during the Codesa talks and minister, his experience is vast and valuable to the current South African team of facilitators.

While in prison, Maharaj transcribed Mandela’s memoir, Long Walk to Freedom, and smuggled it out of jail for printing. For some he is seen as South Africa’s own Che Guevara.

In his autobiography, Shades of Difference: Mac Maharaj and the Struggle for South Africa, he is described by the author Padraig O’Malley as a “distinctive character: often stubborn, not always easy to get on with, arrogant to a fault, proud and zealous, but always driven by the larger concern for social change and adding value through his inventiveness, boundless energy and extraordinary courage”.

In the foreword of his autobiography written by Mandela, Maharaj is described as “a founding father of the struggle”. The former South African president and statesman also says Maharaj helped him to “enrich his decision-making”.

Zulu is also experienced as well. She was deeply involved in the struggle and trained as an Umkhonto we Sizwe fighter. She returned to South Africa from exile in 1992 after living in Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda and Angola. Zulu served in high positions in the ANC, including as the party spokesperson, provincial and national parliaments, Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a diplomat and now she is Zuma’s international relations advisor.

More importantly, she was involved in the complex DRC negotiations and Burundi. She also has a media background.

Nqakula — a former journalist –was a liberation movement political activist, Umkhonto we Sizwe guerilla, Minister of Safety and Security as well as Defence, and negotiator. Now Zuma’s political advisor, he was deeply involved in the negotiations in Burundi and later Sudan.

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