A TEAM of South African officials arrived in Zimbabwe on Sunday where they will facilitate talks on the Zimbabwean power-sharing agreement, the presidency said.
Presidential spokesman Vincent Magwenya said South Africa was ready to help ensure that the power-sharing agreement was fully implemented.
“The gains that have already been achieved by parties in Zimbabwe cannot be reversed,” he said.
The facilitation team is led by Charles Nqakula, former defence minister and current adviser to Zuma.
He is accompanied by “special envoy” Mac Maharaj -- who returns to active politics after retiring as minister in 1999 -- and international relations adviser Lindiwe Zulu.
The teams will report back to president Jacob Zuma.
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai will participate in the talks to rescue the floundering agreement which led to the formation of a unity government in February.
Tsvangirai boycotted the government for three weeks in October amid differences over appointments to key cabinet posts.
His long-time opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, has claimed that there has been a crackdown against its members by Mugabe’s ruling Zanu PF party.
Mugabe has also refused to swear-in Roy Bennett, the MDC's treasurer, as the deputy minister of agriculture, insisting that he first stand trial on terrorism charges
South Africa’s department of international relations and cooperation has described the impasse as “petty squabbling and politicking among the leaders”.
A Southern African Development Community Summit earlier this month directed Zuma, as the facilitator, to assess the progress of the talks and report back to it.- Sapa