{"id":428697,"date":"2011-05-23T10:45:17","date_gmt":"2011-05-23T10:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/05\/23\/tsvangirais-sadc-lobby-bolstered\/"},"modified":"2011-05-23T10:45:17","modified_gmt":"2011-05-23T10:45:17","slug":"tsvangirais-sadc-lobby-bolstered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/23\/tsvangirais-sadc-lobby-bolstered\/","title":{"rendered":"Tsvangirai’s SADC Lobby Bolstered"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Financial Gazette<\/a> (Harare)<\/p>\n

Njabulo Ncube<\/p>\n

20 May 2011<\/p>\n

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Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s formation of the Movement for Democratic Change, MDC-T, is banking on the country’s civil society to pre-empt ZANU-PF’s concerted strategy to portray it as the aggressor in the shaky government of national unity (GNU) ahead of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) extraordinary summit, which opens in Windhoek, Namibia, tomorrow.<\/p>\n

The counter-strategy follows President Robert Mugabe’s dispatch on Friday and Saturday of envoys to Angola and Mozambique to lobby the influential SADC leaders as ZANU-PF seeks to reverse the gains of the premier scored in the last SADC Troika in Zambia in which it was stated that the Global Political Agreement (GPA) should be fully implemented.<\/p>\n

Issues dogging the GNU are on top of the summit agenda.<\/p>\n

ZANU-PF’s strategy is to use the occasion to set the record straight on the political situation in Zimbabwe, especially MDC-T’s complicity in politically-motivated violence.<\/p>\n

But it emerged on Tuesday that civil society organisations had already sent a strong contingent in the region to counter ZANU-PF’s strategy as political jostling continues in Harare.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Buanews<\/a><\/p>\n

The SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government (file photo).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Scores of civil society activists started making the bee-line to the Namibian capital yesterday in attempts to debunk assertions from ZANU-PF that the MDC-T was a party with a penchant for violence.<\/p>\n

The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition is co-ordinating the civil society delegation.<\/p>\n

The delegation, led by Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition spokesperson, Phillip Pasirayi, comprises representatives from the Zimbabwe Lawye-rs for Human Rights, the Zimbabwe Election Support Network, the National Constitu-tional Assembly and the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions.<\/p>\n

“Zimbabwe civil society delegates will engage several SADC leaders; will address a press conference and will present a civil society position paper on minimum conditions for free and fair elections,” Dewa Mavhinga, the regional information and advocacy co-ordinator for Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, South Africa office, told The Financial Gazette.<\/p>\n

Dewa said the main message to be delivered to SADC leaders was that the regional bloc must urgently spell out in clear terms pre-conditions to ensure democratic elections in Zimbabwe that are without violence and intimidation and that fully comply with SADC principles and guidelines governing democratic elections.<\/p>\n

“We reiterate that, despite talk to the contrary, Zimbabwe is not ready for elections in 2011 and that on her own, without direct assistance from SADC and the African Union, Zimbabwe lacks capacity and political will to deliver a free and fair election,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We state unequivocally that the conditions obtaining in Zimbabwe such as widespread State-sponsored violence, partisan application of the law, increased deployment of soldiers across the country openly intimidating citizens and campaigning for ZANU-PF and increased arrests and harassment of rights activists and MDC leaders, all confirm that key State institutions remain unreformed and extremely partisan and politicised,” he said.<\/p>\n

Dewa said civil society organisations called upon SADC to put on public record minimum pre-conditions that Zimbabwe must meet in order to create an environment conducive to holding free and fair elections where violence and intimidation played no part and to inspire confidence in the people of Zimbabwe, in SADC and the wider international community.<\/p>\n

In crafting a credible road-map to elections in Zimbabwe, SADC must endeavour to make the process as broad-based and as inclusive as possible. SADC must state clearly what appropriate steps it will take to ensure full compliance with its resolutions and directives regarding Zimbabwe’s preparations for elections, he added.<\/p>\n

“For the road-map to be meaningful and to inspire confidence in the people of Zimbabwe, it must directly address critical pre-conditions including a new, democratic constitution before elections (not just the holding of a referendum that may result in a NO Vote), the complete demilitarisation of all State institutions particularly the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and a direct, on-the-ground SADC role in long-term monitoring and observation of Zimbabwe elections to prevent violence and intimidation,” said Dewa.<\/p>\n

There is alleged reluctance by ZANU-PF to adhere to the SADC road-map on elections on the grounds that the GPA was itself a road-map to fresh harmonised elections.<\/p>\n

The ZANU-PF Politburo categorically stated that it wants fresh elections held this year despite advice to the contrary from South African President Jacob Zuma, the SADC appointed mediator in the Zimbabwe crisis.<\/p>\n

There are expectations within ZANU-PF that this time around, the SADC leaders would turn the tables against Prime Minister Tsvangirai and his party after well-publicised intra-party violence in the run-up to the MDC-T congress held in Bulawayo three weeks ago.<\/p>\n

ZANU-PF has allegedly prepared a thick dossier on MDC-T violence. The SADC Council for NGOs has distributed a position paper on Zimbabwe in which it lobbied the regional leaders to take decisive action on the nagging political situation in Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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Originally posted here:
\nTsvangirai’s SADC Lobby Bolstered<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Financial Gazette (Harare) Njabulo Ncube 20 May 2011 Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s formation of the Movement for Democratic Change, MDC-T, is banking on the country’s civil society to pre-empt ZANU-PF’s concerted strategy to portray it as the aggressor in the shaky government of national unity (GNU) ahead of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) extraordinary summit, which opens in Windhoek, Namibia, tomorrow. The counter-strategy follows President Robert Mugabe’s dispatch on Friday and Saturday of envoys to Angola and Mozambique to lobby the influential SADC leaders as ZANU-PF seeks to reverse the gains of the premier scored in the last SADC Troika in Zambia in which it was stated that the Global Political Agreement (GPA) should be fully implemented. Issues dogging the GNU are on top of the summit agenda<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-428697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nTsvangirai's SADC Lobby Bolstered - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/23\/tsvangirais-sadc-lobby-bolstered\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Tsvangirai's SADC Lobby Bolstered - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Financial Gazette (Harare) Njabulo Ncube 20 May 2011 Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's formation of the Movement for Democratic Change, MDC-T, is banking on the country's civil society to pre-empt ZANU-PF's concerted strategy to portray it as the aggressor in the shaky government of national unity (GNU) ahead of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) extraordinary summit, which opens in Windhoek, Namibia, tomorrow. The counter-strategy follows President Robert Mugabe's dispatch on Friday and Saturday of envoys to Angola and Mozambique to lobby the influential SADC leaders as ZANU-PF seeks to reverse the gains of the premier scored in the last SADC Troika in Zambia in which it was stated that the Global Political Agreement (GPA) should be fully implemented. 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