Pretoria, Sept 17: The South African government has said that host Nigeria must decide whether Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe should be invited to attend the Commonwealth heads of state meeting in December. "It is up to Nigeria to decide whether he (Mugabe) should attend or not," South African presidential spokesperson Bheki Khumalo said reacting to statements by Australia and the commonwealth secretariat that Mugabe will not be invited to the summit.

Khumalo said Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo would be approached to secure an invitation to Mugabe.

"We are going to engage with president Olusugen Obasanjo as the host of the summit so that an invitation will be extended to President Ugabe. We do not understand this business of Australia saying Zimbabwe is still excluded," said Khumalo. Appealing to Australia to understand that nothing would be gained through "megaphone" diplomacy, he said there was nothing to be gained by boycotting Mugabe.

Zimbabwe was suspended from the Commonwealth last year after Mugabe was re-elected in its presidential elections.

Bureau Report