"Fooled ya! Fooled ya! Nyah!"
President Thabo Mbeki has denied telling his United States counterpart George W Bush that Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe would step down in December. "There is no such thing. I don’t know where that comes from," he told reporters in Pretoria yesterday. "There was no discussion at all about anybody stepping down."
| "Nope. Nope. Never said it." |
Weekend reports, quoting unnamed diplomatic sources, suggested Mbeki told Bush during his recent South African visit that Mugabe would be out of office by December.
| Ah! That's different from saying he's gonna step down... |
Mugabe reportedly gave Mbeki an undertaking that he would step down at his Zanu PF party’s congress at the end of the year. |