EU move too late ­ British MP

CAPE TOWN -- European Union (EU) sanctions against President Robert Mugabe were too little too late, British shadow deputy foreign affairs minister Richard Spring said yesterday.

He told the Cape Town Press Club that his Conservative Party had foreseen years ago that if Zimbabwe, as the linchpin of Southern Africa, got into real difficulties, it would impact on the entire region.

This was exactly what had happened in terms of investment in South Africa and the effect on the rand.

The EU should have set Mugabe a firm timetable months ago for the admission of election observers for next month's presidential poll.

"I think it is a case of too little, too late," he said.

Spring said he was pleased at the way South African President Thabo Mbeki had alluded to Zimbabwe in his State of the Nation address, and said Mbeki was "very alive" to the situation.

When Mbeki had visited London six months ago, he had said South Africa could not play a neo-imperialist role in Africa.

"But the truth of the matter is that South Africa is the powerhouse of Africa," Spring said.

"It's a sophisticated economy, it has sophisticated infrastructure, it has a moral voice which is unequalled in Africa, and there is the most enormous goodwill towards this country from right across the continent.

"So I hope South Africa will drive this process of African self-help forward," he said.

"I believe it is and has to be the driving force for this process in Africa, to make it better-governed and less corrupt. Zimbabwe has had the effect of blotting out so much of what is really good in Africa."

Spring said Zimbabwe's main opposition, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), was a natural ally of the Conservative Party.

"We are in virtual daily contact with them."

The Conservative Party did not make statements about Zimbabwe unless the MDC felt comfortable with them. -- Sapa