afrol News, 21 March - The South African government's election observer team sent to Zimbabwe was given a cold should by the opposition after having declared there was now reason to believe the poll would be unfair. Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai now however has indicated he could be willing to meet with the South Africans.

South Africa's Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana, the head of the government's election observer team, caused widespread protest last week when he said that he saw no reason why Zimbabwe's 31 March parliamentary elections should not be free and fair. The comments even caused the South African government and the ruling party ANC to go on distance to the Minister.

In Zimbabwe, Minister Mdladlana's observations caused disbelief. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) branded Mr Mdladlana, "a useless politician" and refused to meet with South Africa's government observer team. The Minister was "pre-judging the elections" and thus had compromised his teams impartiality, said MDC spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi.

Also South Africa's main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), strongly criticised Minister Mdladlana last week. The Minister's conduct "has been reprehensible since his arrival in the country", DA spokesperson Joe Seremane said in a statement. The DA also criticised the Labour Minister for shutting down opposition voices among the South African observer mission.

Face with this massive critique, the South African Minister on Friday told the press that he did not intent to prejudge the Zimbabwean election. Minister Mdladlana claimed Zimbabwean state media had misquoted him and that he indeed wanted to meet an MDC delegation.

The Zimbabwean opposition, after first refusing to meet any South African observer mission, during the last days has softened its stands. On Thursday, the MDC agreed to engage with the observer team of South Africa's ruling ANC party. The change of heart by the MDC followed a conversation that day between MDC Secretary General Welshman Ncube and his ANC counterpart, Kgalema Motlanthe.

The ANC Secretary General personally had assured Mr Ncube that the ANC observer mission would be independent and would have nothing whatsoever to do with the South African government observer mission. Mr Motlanthe further had promised that the ANC observers were under strict instructions to behave impartially, to objectively assess the conditions on the ground and to help Zimbabweans to freely participate in the democratic process.

Today, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai announced he would be willing to meet the South African government observer mission later this week, according to statements made by Minister Mdladlana. The South African welcomed "the good gesture" by Mr Tsvangirai and reassured his mission's interest was that "these elections are run smoothly."

The positive response by the MDC party leader came after Minister Mdladlana on Sunday repeated that he had never declared the polls were sure to be free and fair. His team was to observe these elections and would "not hesitate to intervene if they notice any activity which undermines and militates against free and fair elections," Mr Mdladlana said.

The two observer teams from South Africa are among the few allowed to oversee the 31 March poll. President Robert Mugabe has banned most foreign missions not from the Southern African region. Even most of the independent national observer teams have been banned. Only last week, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) was banned from observing the poll.

By staff writers

© afrol News

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