SADC Troika meets in Maputo to discuss Zimbabwe

By Tichaona Sibanda
14 January 2010

The SADC Troika on Politics, Defence and Security held a summit in Maputo on Thursday to consider, among other issues, reports on developments in Zimbabwe’s inclusive government.

The summit came just two days before negotiators from ZANU PF and the two MDC formations begin another round of talks on Saturday, which are supposed to thrash out the remaining and most contentious issues in the Global Political Agreement (GPA).

Most of the region’s leaders were in Maputo for the inauguration of Mozambique’s President Armando Guebuza. Guebuza, who first came into power in 2005, won a re-election in November last year and began his second and final five year term on Thursday.

Robert Mugabe attended the inauguration ceremony and left soon after attending a luncheon hosted by Guebuza, according to Fred Katerere, a Maputo based journalist. Katerere told us reports in the media that Mugabe was to attend the Troika meeting were incorrect.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who had also been invited, did not attend because of a prior engagement. Tsvangirai, who is on holiday in South Africa, is expected in Harare on Friday. He officially starts work on Monday. Tsvangirai’ spokesman, James Maridadi, told SW Radio Africa he believed the summit was a report back meeting which did not need the presence of the Prime Minister.

‘This can only be a report back summit on security in the region and not a meeting specifically on Zimbabwe. For it to qualify as a SADC summit on Zimbabwe all the three principals to the GPA must be available and be involved in the discussions,’ Maridadi said.

The Maputo summit hosted by Guebuza, the current chair of the Troika, was attended by the past chair Swaziland, represented in Maputo by Prime Minister Subusiso Dlamini and the Troika deputy chair Zambian President Rupiah Banda. Also in attendance was the SADC chairperson Joseph Kabila, President of the Democratic Republic of Congo and South African President Jacob Zuma, who is the facilitator for the Zimbabwe crisis.

Last week a ministerial conference of SADC foreign affairs ministers joined South Africa in expressing concern at the slow pace in Harare at resolving outstanding issues in the power-sharing government. The ministers warned that further delays could lead to more serious problems.

An analyst told us the SADC leaders could have ‘quietly’ urged Mugabe in Maputo to expedite talks with Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara to resolve the outstanding issues.

The impasse in the talks continues to be the failure by Mugabe and his ZANU PF party to implement in full the GPA reached with the two MDC formations in September 2008.

Tsvangirai objects in particular to Mugabe’s unilateral re-appointment of Gideon Gono as Governor of the central bank and Johannes Tomana as Attorney-General. Gono is regarded as being directly responsible for the destruction of the economy and for helping to fund the repression. Tomana has been one of the main architects of the ongoing harassment of MDC and human rights activists.

Other issues at stake include the appointment of provisional governors, and the delay in swearing in MDC treasurer Roy Bennett, who is the nominee for the post of deputy Agriculture Minister.

Lack of progress on these issues led Tsvangirai to disengage from the inclusive government last year. He refused to attend cabinet meetings, and made a tour of the region to explain his position to other SADC leaders.

The upshot of this tour, particularly of Tsvangirai’s meeting with Guebuza, was that a SADC Troika mission and a South African facilitation team visited the country towards the end of last year. Thursday’s summit was expected to receive reports from these missions.

A source in South Africa, who has seen a report compiled by Zuma’s facilitation team, said it listed all the obstacles to the full and effective implementation of the GPA. The report also recommends how some of these obstacles can be overcome.

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