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ANC seeks dialogue with Zanu-PF, MDC

ANC seeks dialogue with Zanu-PF, MDC
By Chansa Kabwela in Lusaka and Kingsley Kaswende in Harare
Wednesday April 16, 2008 [04:00]

THE African National Congress (ANC) has said it will seek party-to-party dialogue with the ZANU-PF and MDC separately on the situation in Zimbabwe. And the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)’s planned general strike to protest against failure by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to release election results failed to take off in Zimbabwe yesterday.

According to the Mail and Guardian of South Africa yesterday, the ruling ANC's spokesperson Jesse Duarte said Zimbabwe was in a state of crisis.
The statement follows the party's National Working Committee (NWC) meeting in Cape Town and is a contradiction of President Thabo Mbeki's pronouncement that the stand-off in Zimbabwe did not constitute a crisis.

"The ANC regards ZANU-PF (the ruling party) as an ally. However, it is concerned with the state of crisis that Zimbabwe is in and perceives this as negative for the entire Southern African Development Community SADC region," Duarte said.
Duarte said the ANC accepted that President Mbeki, who has been re-appointed by SADC to mediate between the ZANU-PF and the two MDC factions, "has cause to remain neutral".

The ANC again called on ZEC to announce the election results without delay.
Among members of the NWC include ANC president Jacob Zuma, deputy president Motlanthe Kgalema, national chairperson Mbete Baleke, secretary general Mantashe Gwede, deputy secretary general Modise Thandi and treasurer general Phosa Matthew. President Mbeki together with Nelson Mandela are ex-officio members.

Meanwhile, the MDC's planned general strike to protest against ZEC’s failure to release election results failed to take off yesterday.

In calling for the general strike, the MDC urged all workers in the country to stay away from work starting from yesterday.

"From Tuesday April 15, let us all stay at home until the presidential results have been announced...We call on transporters, workers, vendors, and everyone to stay at home," the MDC had stated in pamphlets it circulated.
However, the protest failed to take off as people went about their usual business by press time.

And MDC vice-president Thokozani Khupe on Monday said voting alone was not enough to effect regime change in Zimbabwe.

Shortly after the Harare High Court refused to order ZEC to release the results of last month's presidential election, Khupe told journalists that it appeared voting alone was not enough.

"What we want is for ZEC to announce the results. We hope every Zimbabwean takes it upon themselves to speak out and to be heard. Voting alone is not enough," Khupe said.
High Court judge Tendai Uchena dismissed MDC's urgent chamber application that sought to order ZEC to release the results, saying the electoral commission was acting within the law in delaying the results.

The MDC went to court to challenge the delay by ZEC in issuing the result of the presidential election, now 17 days overdue. ZEC claims it is still recounting and collating results.

In his ruling, judge Uchena said ZEC's decision to recount the votes and the time the commission would take was not subject to an appeal, which meant that ZEC was intended to act independently and that its decision would be final.
Judge Uchena said the provision barring an appeal simply meant ZEC had been given a very wide discretion as to whether or not to recount.

"The provision that ZEC's decision shall not be subject to an appeal also means that this court cannot enquire into that decision. This should therefore be the end of the enquiry, as the respondent's conduct can only be open to the jurisdiction of this court when it strays from the law," judge Uchena said.

"I therefore find that the reason proffered by the respondents (ZEC) for their failure to timeously announce the presidential results is legally valid. It can therefore justify the delay. The respondents have not strayed from the law. This court is therefore not entitled to intervene and order the respondent to announce the results on the basis of failure to comply with the law...I would in the result dismiss the application with costs."

Reacting to judge Uchena's ruling, ZANU-PF secretary for legal affairs Patrick Chinamasa accused MDC of delaying the announcement of results by opting to go to court.

"We knew from the outset that their application to stampede ZEC into announcing the results had no merit. MDC embarked on the court process to delay the announcement of election results, to cause confusion and to portray a picture of Zimbabwe being in a crisis," Chinamasa said. "MDC doesn't want ZEC to announce the correct figures but to stampede it to announce results that have not been correctly arrived at."

An extraordinary summit of SADC heads of state on Zimbabwe that was held in Lusaka over the weekend urged ZEC to release the results "expeditiously."

Labels: ANC, MDC, ZANU-PF

posted by MrK @ 4:29 AM