SW Radio Africa (London)
Tererai Karimakwenda
14 July 2011
The Mugabe regime has revived its calls to hold elections this year, going against timelines that were agreed to just last week by negotiators to the election roadmap. On Wednesday the ZANU PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo told reporters that the Politburo had decided timelines in the roadmap should be cut to allow the elections this year and the decision was unanimous within the party.
The call goes against demands by civic groups, the MDC and SADC, who collectively agree that key reforms in the GPA must be implemented before any elections can be held. It also ignores the roadmap that was agreed to by the political parties, including ZANU PF, during negotiations facilitated by the regional grouping SADC, which indicated that the earliest an election could be held was at the end of 2012.
Speaking after a meeting of the ZANU PF Politburo in Harare, Gumbo said the policy making body had discussed the “pros and cons” following a report on the roadmap by Patrick Chinamasa, and it was decided that the timelines were too long. Chinamasa was one of the negotiators for ZANU PF during the election roadmap discussions.
Gumbo also told reporters that ZANU PF was “concerned” about delays in completing the constitution-making exercise, which ZANU PF blamed on the MDC-T. “We have to find a way of pushing them because we cannot continue with this kind of situation where sanctions are destroying our economy,” Gumbo is quoted as saying.
The ZANU PF spokesman then went into a long winded tirade about the targeted sanctions, blaming MDC-T, and in particular Finance minister Tendai Biti, for the country’s failed economy.
Regarding the timelines, Gumbo said: “Days that had been assigned to deal with some of these issues are too long. For example, you cannot say preparation of the voters’ roll should take 60 days and licensing of new broadcasters can take 100 days.”
But one of the civic groups opposed to elections this year, the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), released a statement this week on the timelines, calling for even more time than negotiators had allocated for reforms.
ZESN chairperson Tini Bere told SW Radio Africa on Thursday that Zimbabweans deserve a credible poll next time they vote and the SADC approved roadmap must be followed, as it was agreed to by all political parties, including ZANU PF.
“It is no longer possible for any one party to dictate the country’s agenda and ZANU PF cannot ignore SADC and the other players,” Bere said. “I can assure you SADC will follow the roadmap,” he added.
The ZESN statement also called for security sector reforms, saying they are a “critical element in paving the way for violence-free elections”. But the issue remains unresolved as ZANU PF insists security is a sovereign issue that is not brought up in the GPA.
Joy Mabhenge from the Institute for Democratic Alternatives, South Africa (IDASA), dismissed the ZANU PF call for early elections as “political posturing”. He said the announcement by Gumbo was nothing new because the party had always campaigned for elections in 2011.
“But as a political party they will not publicly back down from those earlier calls without losing face. Privately though they will take a different position,” Mabhenge explained.
He added that the negotiators would not have agreed to positions on any issues without first consulting their principals, particularly Patrick Chinamasa, who represented ZANU PF. “So to go against that agreed position now is just posturing and SADC will hold them to the roadmap”, Mabhenge said.
Gumbo told reporters the ZANU PF Central Committee would meet on Friday to discuss issues raised by the Politburo.
We were unable to get through to anyone in the MDC-T for a comment on the ZANU PF announcement.
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