"The DA urges President Mbeki to call upon President Robert Mugabe to immediately release one of the Movement for Democratic Change's key representatives, Arthur Mutambara, who was arrested during the weekend for criticising the Zimbabwean government," said the party's foreign
affairs spokesman Tony Leon.
The party called on the president to require Mugabe to assure the Southern Development Community that his government would give the opposition access to campaigning without fear of intimidation.
A presidential run-off in that country is scheduled for June 27.
"Mutambara's arrest is evidence that Mugabe is bent on extending his stay in power at all cost. Not only is his arrest a repression of freedom of speech and political activity, but an orchestrated ploy by the Mugabe regime to destabilise the MDC's campaign for the run-off election," said Leon in a statement.
If Mbeki did not intervene in Mutambara's arrest, it would underscore the MDC's allegation that he was biased towards ZANU-PF, said Leon.
The party said the run-off election was the only remaining hope of resolving matters in Zimbabwe.
"A failure to secure a political climate that is conducive to a free and fair run-off election is equivalent to embracing a rigged election.
"President Mbeki must therefore urgently display firm resolve in this matter, and ensure that the run off election is free and fair. If he does not, it will lend further weight to the argument --now coming out of Zimbabwe itself -- that he is no longer a credible mediator in
the Zimbabwe crisis," said Leon.
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