Mugabe insists elections will be held in March

By Tererai Karimakwenda
14 December 2007

Speculation as to whether the harmonised elections due next year will be postponed to allow more time for preparation, was put to rest by Robert Mugabe on Thursday at the official opening of ZANU-PF’s Extraordinary Congress in Harare. In his keynote address the ruling party leader said the elections will be held in March without fail and warned all participants they will only have themselves to blame if they are not ready.

The opposition faction led by Morgan Tsvangirai reacted to Mugabe’s announcement by saying it was outrageous, as the date and other electoral issues are to be decided only within the context of the mediated talks in South Africa. A civil organisation opposed to the whole process, the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), said the MDC should not be surprised because Mugabe has always set a March date for the elections.

According to the state media Mugabe said: “We shall hold this combined poll in that month of March without fail, in the month of March without fail. I want to emphasise that because we started announcing that we would have this election in March next year, about six months ago, and our election processes here are never by way of ambush as they do in Europe, no, we announce them well in advance and the people must prepare for them.”

Nelson Chamisa, spokesperson for the Tsvangirai MDC, described Mugabe’s statement as “totally unacceptable.” He said: “We are currently in a dialogue process in Pretoria in South Africa and it is exactly that platform which is mandated and legitimate to deal with issues with regard to the date of the election.” He added that over the weekend the MDC was going to deliberate on the matter.

Dr. Lovemore Madhuku, chairperson of the NCA said no serious politician or analyst should be surprised by Mugabe’s confirmation that elections will be in March because he has always made it clear that this was the schedule.

Madhuku was critical of the MDC saying: “It was obvious from the start that they were not going to get anything from the talks. Obvious from the start that Amendment 18 was an act of being cheated. It was obvious that elections were going to take place in March.”

It is clear a showdown is looming if the MDC rejects the March date during their deliberations this weekend.

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