The South African president, Jacob Zuma, began his three-day state visit to the UK today with a call for international sanctions on Zimbabwe to be lifted.
Zuma told reporters in London that the travel bans and asset freezes imposed by the EU and the US on Robert Mugabe and his allies served only to divide the already fragile power-sharing government in Zimbabwe.
Repeating calls by the Southern African Development Community for a suspension of the sanctions, Zuma said: "Our view is that the unity government should be supported so that it can get out of the difficulties that face Zimbabwe ... We plead with the countries that have applied sanctions to lift [them]. That would give Zimbabwe the opportunity to move forward."
Zuma said Zimbabwe could not be expected to sort out its problems while its power-sharing government, made up of Mugabe's Zanu-PF and Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change, was subject to two different sets of rules.
"It's going to be difficult [for the government] to get on with other matters if there are sanctions, because sanctions are one-sided," he said. "We have a government that's not treated equally by sanctions. Those who cannot travel freely feel that they are constrained."
Zuma said in a Financial Times interview last week that South Africa had been "one of the major players that actually pulled Zimbabwe back from getting into a disaster", while Europe and the US had ignored the new reality in maintaining sanctions.
The president, who will meet the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh tomorrow, also found time to address the South African football team's lacklustre performance in the run-up to this summer's World Cup.
"We are going to surprise you," he said. "Our standards came down a little bit, but we have worked hard. The only weakness was not scoring goals, and we have fixed that. The World Cup may remain in South Africa."
Zuma's aides, however, were less forthcoming on how the polygamous president had decided which of his three current wives would accompany him to the UK. In the end, his newest bride, Thobeka Madiba Zuma, has accompanied him. Protocol on which wife attends which state event is unclear in South Africa, since Zuma operates an unofficial "rotation" between spouses.
"We are an open democracy," said a spokesman. "We do not have a first lady – what if we had a gay president? We have a spousal office. Who accompanies the president is for him to decide. It's a private matter."
Speculation in the South African press has suggested that the president considered the trip to London, his new wife's first foreign engagement as consort, as her turn. Zuma is a strong defender of Zulu cultural traditions including polygamy and is rumoured to be planning a sixth wedding.
