(TALKZIMBABWE) SADC has done its part

SADC has done its part
Denford Magora - Opinion
Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:32:00 +0000

SADC has unequivocally washed its hands of Zimbabwe and will officially walk away on 30 January this year. What will happen on that date, as decided by the Sadc Heads of State in South Africa yesterday is that Thabo Mbeki, whom the leaders affirmed again as the mediator on Zimbabwe in a direct slap to the MDC's face, will convene a meeting of the Zimbabwean Joint Monitoring Committee (JOMIC), which will immediately elect a Chairman.

The Joint Monitoring Committee is the mechanism by which the parties agreed in the September 15 agreement to solve any differences, on the understanding that there was now an agreement on the table and all that remained was to implement it and form a government.

The Joint Monitoring Committee is a purely Zimbabwean body, made up of people chosen by the MDCs and Zanu PF.

It is vital for Zimbabweans to understand the implication of this move by Sadc.

What it means effectively is that Sadc has now come through on its threat last week that it will leave the Zimbabwean parties to implement the agreement. Sadc is walking away, it considers its job done and now waits for the six months period after a new Government is formed, for the arrangement to be reviewed as agreed on November 9 last year in South Africa at yet another Sadc meeting.

Once the JOMIC is set up on 30 January, all attempts by any of the parties to bring the matter back to Sadc will be met with the answer that there is now an internal mechanism to deal with these within Zimbabwe.

I am now being told that Sadc has said that it remains the Guarantor of the Agreement but that the (Extraordinary) Summit told Tsvangirai last night that they cannot be Guarantors to something that did not exist, hence their insistence that a Government be formed first and then, as Guarantors, they stand ready to listen to any grievances arising from breach of the agreement by any of the parties AFTER the six month agreed period.

Please note that Sadc only says that it will present a "progress report" to the forthcoming African Union Summit, whose Chairman was also part of this Summit and who also took part in the decisions that were reached and are contained in the Communiqué.

In other words, the African Union has already tied its own position to that of Sadc, even before the official report is made to the Continental body.

The MDC, in a short response, simply lists the same five demands that Sadc says in the Communiqué below can only be dealt with by a Government in Zimbabwe once it is formed.

These are (Sadc answers to these MDC positions are contained in my brackets after each MDC point as released in their own Press Release):

The enactment of Ammendment Number 19 (Sadc says they agree and the Ammendment should be enacted by 5 February).
The Definition of the National Security Council (Sadc answers by saying that "the negotiators of the party will meet to discuss the draft MDC Bill on National Security, but under the aegis of the Joint Monitoring Committee and NOT Sadc).
Equitable Allocation of Portfolio Ministries (Sadc says the allocation of ministries was endorsed by Sadc on November 9 last year at the request of Tsvangirai and they especially point to the fact that it was Tsvangirai who suggested the sharing of Home Affairs as a compromise. Sadc reiterated yesterday its position that this allocation will only be reviewed six months after a government is formed, as stated on November 9 last year).
The appointment of provincial governors and other senior positions. (Sadc answers this directly in its communiqué of yesterday by saying that "the appointment of the Reserve Bank Governor and Attorney General shall be dealt with by the inclusive government after its formation). Please note this carefully because it displays yet again SADC's determination to wash its hands of Zimbabwe and leave it to sort out its own mess.
Breaches of MOU and GPA (this point Sadc explicitly ignore because, like I said before, they have decided to look at this matter in a purely legal manner (they don't consider the spirit of the agreement, which is not written in black and white) and by doing so, they have asked the MDC to point to specific clauses in the Agreement that were violated by Zanu PF. The MDC were, according to reports, unable to point to one.

Denford Magora is the spokesman for the Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn Project led by Dr. Simba Makoni (a former presidential aspirant, minister and Zanu PF Politburo member).
More works can be read on his blog: http://denfordmagora.blogspot.com/