Maravi

MDC seeks SADC help for democratic polls

MDC seeks SADC help for democratic polls
By Kingsley Kaswende in Harare, Zimbabwe
Tue 18 May 2010, 18:00 CAT

THE Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has again turned to SADC for help to devise a plan that would bring democratic elections to the country.

The party’s highest decision-making body met over the weekend to discuss various issues affecting the party and the inclusive government, which it shares with President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party.

The resolution of the National Executive Council state that the party urged SADC to convene a summit at which the roadmap to, as well as the legitimacy of, the next elections at the expiry of the government should be discussed.

“The party urges the immediate convening of a SADC summit to resolve the matter which SADC summit should clearly discuss the roadmap to an election and the guarantees to the legitimacy of this election,” the resolutions stated.

So far, six summits have been convened by SADC since 2008, albeit with little success, in attempting to help the Zimbabwean parties resolve their differences.

Both President Mugabe and MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai, political archrivals who were forced into a coalition in February last year following a violent and disputed election in 2008, have said the country could go to fresh polls when the transitional coalition expires.

According to their agreement, fresh elections must be held within 24 to 36 months after the establishment of the unity government within which period a new constitution must be crafted.

Currently, the inclusive government is occupied with crafting the new law, which is supposed to usher elections acceptable to all as free and fair. MDC has often argued that the law that is being replaced had been unfair on its part.

During the weekend’s meeting, the MDC deliberated on the various outstanding issues to the full implementation of the agreement that established the unity government.

The party accused its bed-fellow ZANU-PF of violating the provisions of the agreement in many ways.
It says President Mugabe has refused to swear-in MDC’s appointee for the position of deputy agriculture minister in the inclusive government.

The appointee, Roy Bennett, has been facing criminal charges of treason although the Harare High Court acquitted him last week. The state has since appealed against his acquittal and President Mugabe says he will only swear him in after the law runs its full course.

The MDC also demands the removal of Attorney General Johannes Tomana and Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono, who the party accuses of siding with ZANU-PF.
The party further wants President Mugabe’s spokesperson George Charamba to be removed from his position as permanent secretary for media, information and publicity.

It also demands that its leader Tsvangirai, who is prime minister in the inclusive government, should chair Cabinet meetings in the absence of President Mugabe.

However, a report that was prepared by the parties’ negotiators for South African President Jacob Zuma, who is facilitating the talks between the two parties, states that the parties are in agreement on 21 of 27 issues that have been in contention.

President Zuma had visited Zimbabwe in March to breathe fresh life into the stalled negotiations that were causing strain in the inclusive government.

He had given the parties up to March 31 to conclude the talks and submit a report to him.
The report, which was also submitted to President Mugabe, Tsvangirai, and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara who is the third partner in the government, shows that there was a breakthrough with regard to electoral law reforms.

These reforms are designed to sanitise the country’s elections and prevent the crisis, which caused chaos following the March 2008 presidential election.

Although Tsvangirai led in the March 28 election, he did not secure enough votes to grant him an outright win. A second poll was called on June 27 but Tsvangirai backed out after a wave of violence that saw the death of more than 200 people and the displacement of 300,000.

The report also shows that there was agreement by the parties to call for the lifting of sanctions on Zimbabwe.

Other areas of agreement include the need by MDC to halt the operations of “pirate” radio stations based outside Zimbabwe but beam into the country; the need to abhor hate speech and bias in the media, the rule of law and land issues.

Negotiators also agreed on the need for respect of national institutions and events, constitutional amendment No.19 and the allocation of ambassadors.

Labels: MDC, SADC

posted by MrK @ 10:18 PM