Zimbabweans must take control of their future: Zulu
South Africa believes that Zimbabweans have the responsibility to ensure that the reforms, not yet carried out in their country, do take place. This is according to Presidential International Relations Advisor, Lindiwe Zulu.
Zulu was on Tuesday addressing a seminar in Pretoria hosted by the Southern African Liaison Office (SALO).
Zulu was part of the SADC facilitation team charged with ensuring the implementation of Zimbabwe’s 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA) for a unity government.
When the GPA ended with Zanu-PF’s election victory last year, commentators and opposition parties cited various security reforms that hadn’t taken place, specifically a rehaul of the army and police.
Meanwhile, Zulu says the time is ripe for the United Nations (UN) to be reformed. Africans and other developing country citizens need to have a say in the global institution that has so much impact on their lives, she says.
Her comments echo those of President Jacob Zuma, who at last year’s session of the UN General Assembly, challenged the body to set a target for a reformed, more inclusive UN Security Council by 2015, when the UN celebrates its 70th anniversary.
Zulu says the timing for such reform is appropriate.
“We are in a better place to want to be listened to because we think to an extent our own political transformation is taking place both at the level of individual countries but also collectively. We are seeing more and more countries taking the route of being democracies going the route of working on making sure there is no conflict going the route of respecting human rights, but I think we have a plan to deal with those,” says Zulu.