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SADC troika hears Zimbabwe’s progress in resolving political crisis

SADC troika hears Zimbabwe’s progress in resolving political crisis
By Kingsley Kaswende in Harare, Zimbabwe
Mon 16 Aug. 2010, 14:00 CAT

THE SADC troika on Sunday evening heard that Zimbabwe was making progress in resolving its political crisis, sources have said.

The troika met on Sunday evening prior to the official opening of the 30th SADC summit in Windhoek, Namibia to hear a report on the progress of the inclusive government in Zimbabwe.

“The meeting heard that there was a lot of progress in as far as the inclusive government is concerned. Only three out of 27 issues that had been outstanding between the parties (ZANU-PF and MDC) are in the process of being resolved,” the sources said.

“The parties have agreed on the major reforms and currently the new constitution that is expected to usher democratic elections is on the cards.”

The issues that remain outstanding are the appointments of Reserve Bank governor Dr Gideon Gono and attorney general Johannes Tomana as well as the swearing in of MDC’s Roy Bennett as agriculture deputy minister.

MDC argues that President Robert Mugabe should not have appointed Dr Gono and Tomana without the consultation of the partners to the inclusive government.

However, President Mugabe argues that he had the statutory obligation to make the appointments, which were made before the inclusive government was established in February 2009.

President Mugabe also says he can’t swear-in Bennett just yet because he is facing treason charges relating to a plot to topple the government by military means.

His charges were recently thrown out by the High Court after the state failed to prove its case but the state has since appealed.

South Africa, which is mediating the political situation in Zimbabwe, has already endorsed the progress being made in Zimbabwe.

“The inclusive government in Zimbabwe is making some progress on the implementation of the global political agreement under the mediation of South Africa,” the South African Department of International Relations and Co-operation stated on Sunday.

“Nevertheless, discussions are ongoing and it is hoped that there will be further positive results by the end of this year.”
The SADC council of Ministers also met and discussed Zimbabwe’s refusal to recognise the ruling of the SADC Tribunal, which ruled that Zimbabwe must cease the land seizures.

Zimbabwe argues that the Tribunal rulings are not above the laws of the country.

The meeting was attended by Foreign Affairs or Regional Integration ministers.

The incoming chairperson of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Council of ministers Hage Geingob, who is also Namibia’s Minister of Trade and Industry, the controversial issue was discussed at the meeting.


“It’s on the agenda of the ministers meeting especially about the SADC Tribunal issues on property that has been seized,” Geingob told journalists in Windhoek.


The SADC Tribunal, based in the Namibian capital, was established in 2003 by a SADC treaty signed by regional governments. It provides provide legal recourse to issues from aggrieved regional citizens who will not have got satisfactory rulings in their own countries.


A group of white farmers took their case to the tribunal in 2007 to seek redress after they lost the farms under the land reforms.


The regional court ruled in November 2008 in that the land reforms in Zimbabwe were against the SADC treaty because they were discriminatory in nature.
The summit of heads of states and government opened yesterday.

The summit, being held under the theme, “Towards regional integration”, comes amid concerns over the slow pace of regional integration.


It will look at the issue of the Customs Union, the decision to hold tripartite meetings between COMESA, SADC and the East African Community; and the SADC Free Trade Area (FTA). 
SADC has already established an FTA but has missed its goal of forming a customs union this year.

The bloc further plans to have a common market in place by 2015, to establish a SADC monetary union and a SADC central bank by 2016. 
A single regional currency for the SADC monetary union is planned for 2018.

Labels: SADC

posted by MrK @ 6:56 AM