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Zimbabwe, Madagascar on SADC summit agenda

Zimbabwe, Madagascar on SADC summit agenda
Written by Kingsley Kaswende in Harare
Tuesday, September 01, 2009 4:23:06 PM

Zimbabwe is expected to be on the agenda of the 29th SADC summit to be held in Kinshasa, Congo DR later this week. The SADC secretariat is yet to release the full agenda of the summit which will be held on September 7 and 8, but the summit coincides with SADC's review of the allocation of ministerial positions in Zimbabwe's inclusive government, which the regional bloc said it would review after six months.

The inclusive government came into being in February and the assessment was due in August. The SADC summit communiquÈ of January 27, 2009 specifies that there must be a review of the allocation of ministries in the inclusive government after six months.

"...the allocation of ministerial portfolios endorsed by the SADC Extraordinary Summit held on November 9, 2008, shall be reviewed six months after the inauguration of the inclusive government," the communiquÈ states.

The summit is also expected to settle a dispute between ZANU-PF and MDC over what has been referred to as "outstanding issues" in fully implementing the Global Political Agreement. ZANU-PF and MDC have been bickering over a myriad of issues, among them President Mugabe's "arbitrary" appointment of central bank governor Dr Gideon Gono and Attorney General Johannes Tomana. MDC feels it should have been consulted but ZANU-PF argues that the president has the sole responsibility to make the appointments.

Other issues include delays in swearing in of provincial governors and Roy Bennett, Tsvangirai's appointee as deputy minister of agriculture who has been facing criminal charges for orchestrating a move to topple the President three years ago by military means.

The other issue involves arrests and convictions of legislators from Tsvangirai's party who have been found wanting by law for their involvement in various criminal activities. So far, more than five legislators have been convicted.

On the other hand, ZANU-PF accuses the MDC of not doing enough to call for the lifting of sanctions by Western countries against Zimbabwe, which it instigated to put pressure on ZANU-PF years ago. ZANU-PF also wants MDC to end operations of "pirate" radio stations based outside the country but broadcasting into Zimbabwe.

The other hotspot discussion to look forward to at the summit will be Madagascar, which was suspended from SADC in March this year after 34-year old Andry Rajoelina seized power from President Marc Ravalomanana who has since sought refuge in South Africa.

SADC said it was not in favour of military intervention but urgently wanted the country to return to political normalcy.

The summit is also expected to elect either Malawi or Lesotho to take over the AU chair from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, whose tenure expires in January.

The AU chair rotates according to regions and the next chair should come from the SADC region.

So far, Malawi and Lesotho are the only countries from the region who have put forward their names.

At the summit, South African President Jacob Zuma will leave the seat for his Congo DR counterpart Joseph Kabila.

Labels: SADC, ZIMBABWE

posted by MrK @ 3:25 PM