Calls for Mbeki to engage leaders on Zimbabwe

Holomisa wants public servants to be compensated for monies deducted due to last year's strike

United Democrattic Movement (UDM) leader Bantu Holomisa has written a letter to President Thabo Mbeki.

Holomisa is requesting that the president meet with the collective leadership of South African society to discuss two issues - South Africa's involvement in Zimbabwe crisis and the future of the Scorpions. Holomisa says there is still no legitimate reason to dissolve the Scorpions.

In the letter to the president, Holomisa says there seem to be differences of opinion among South Africans on how to handle the Zimbabwe crisis. He says the handling of Zimbabwe's post election crisis is coupled with uncertainty about what a South African delegation under his leadership is currently doing in Zimbabwe.

Holomisa's letter further states that while the mediation in Zimabwe is a South African Development Community (SADC) initiative, the UDM still feels that president Mbeki is still representing South Africa when mediating in the affairs of Zimbabwe.

Presidential spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga could not confirm whether the letter has already been received. But he says the presidency will respond to the UDM as soon as it receives the letter.