We Won't Use Our Army To Invade Zimbabwe - SA Minister
South Africa has said it is engaging Zimbabwe through diplomatic channels to help it overcome its perennial challenges but will never resort to military force to bring change in her northern neighbour.
Speaking to the Johannesburg-based Power FM radio station on Monday, the country’s International Relations minister Naledi Pandor said her government will both persuade as well as provide support to Zimbabwe where it is needed.
Pandor said South Africa has learned from the Iraq situation, where the United States used force to dislodge Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship but the country is now “a shell of what it was”. She said:
We engage consistently. Non-interference means we wouldn’t use our soldiers, our army to invade Zimbabwe to enforce a platform of democratic practice that we have in South Africa.
We believe that such is a decision that Zimbabwean people must make.
However, we are able — through diplomatic engagement — to persuade the people of Zimbabwe that they need both political as well as an economic revival, which does mean that they have to change in policy and practice.
Former South African President Thabo Mbeki was in Zimbabwe last December to try to facilitate dialogue between President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the opposition.
Mbeki is yet to return to the country amid indications that Harare has rejected his mediation efforts.
