South African President Thabo Mbeki said Sunday he would soon meet his Zimbabwean counterpart Robert Mugabe to express his "serious concern" following measures by Harare against journalists and judges.
"We've agreed to this, that we'll get together soon with the Zimbabwean government to address a whole range of questions that are affecting that country," Mbeki said.
"We continue to be concerned about the situation in Zimbabwe. Some of the things that have been happening recently are to all of us as South Africans matters of serious concern; things that have been affecting the judges, affecting the press, apart from earlier questions to do with the land redistribution."
The South African president was speaking to reporters at the close of a meeting in Somerset West, 50 kilometers (31 miles) from Cape Town, of the International Investment Council.
The Harare government has in recent months rounded on judges, journalists, trade unionists and opposition politicians for challenging its authority.
Threats have also come from militant government supporters, and the president of Zimbabwe's Supreme Court recently took early retirement after veterans of the country's independence war issued veiled warnings to judges who have resisted their seizure of white-owned farmland -- SOMERSET WEST, South Africa (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
