Civil society call for urgent SADC intervention in Zim

By Alex Bell
31 March 2011

Civil society groups have called on leaders in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to urgently intervene in the crisis in Zimbabwe, as SADC once again meet to discuss the situation.

A Summit of SADC’s security organ, the Troika, got underway in Zambia on Thursday, and Zimbabwe is meant to be on the agenda of talks. The heads of state Summit is being chaired by the Troika’s chief, Zambian President Rupiah Banda, and will also be attended by South African President Jacob Zuma and his Mozambican counterpart President Armando Guebuza. Zimbabwe’s political leadership is in attendance, including Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara.

SADC leaders are meant to be the guarantors of Zimbabwe’s unity deal, but, short of gathering for numerous Summits, leaders in the region have done nothing about Zimbabwe’s worsening crisis – which includes intensifying violence and intimidation against MDC supporters, arbitrary arrests of MDC members and human rights activists, and ZANU PF’s continued refusal to abide by the terms of the Global Political Agreement (GPA).

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has in recent weeks been traveling across the region, briefing the leaders about the situation in Zimbabwe, which he explained as being in the grip of “dark and sinister forces.” SADC is now under pressure to take a tough stance against Mugabe and ZANU PF, and ensure that a roadmap towards free, fair and democratic elections is drafted and implemented with SADC supervision.

Dewa Mavhinga, the regional coordinator for the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, told SW Radio Africa from the Summit on Thursday that the atmosphere has been “tense.” He explained that Troika leader President Banda “issued a stern warning to all present that they have to take the will of the people seriously, or the region could be faced with uprisings that have been witnessed in North Africa.”

Banda is quoted saying on Thursday that “if there is anything that we must learn from the upheavals going on in the northern part of our continent, it is that the legitimate expectations of the citizens of our countries cannot be taken for granted.”

“We must therefore continue at the SADC level to consolidate democracy through the establishment of institutions that uphold the tenets of good governance, respect for human rights and the rule of law,” Banda said.

But Mavhinga said that despite this commitment to democracy voiced by Banda, it seemed unlikely that Zimbabwe’s critically needed election road map would be addressed at this Summit.

“Perhaps (the SADC meeting) will only look at some kind of recommitment to the GPA,” Mavhinga said.

He continued saying that SADC leaders need to urgently and more actively intervene, and listed a number of steps that the region should take to ensure that Zimbabwe has a violence free election.

“We reiterate that Zimbabwe is not ready for elections in 2011 and that, without direct assistance from SADC and the AU, Zimbabwe cannot deliver a credible election,” Mavhinga said.

The steps laid out by the Crisis Coalition call on SADC to:

1 - Push Zimbabwe to have a new, democratic constitution which includes critical electoral reforms such as an updated and accurate voters’ roll, guarantees for media freedoms, equal access by all political parties to state media and repeal of all legislation that hinders free political activity.

2 - Ensure that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, charged with elections management, is fully independent, adequately resourced, professional, and has direct technical support from the SADC Electoral Commissions Forum to enable it to fully discharge its mandate.

3 - In the context of its on-going mediation in the political conflict in Zimbabwe, SADC must independently examine and certify that the environment is conducive to holding free and fair elections before an election date can be set, and SADC must supervise them to ensure full compliance with SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections.

4 - Together with the AU and the UN, deploy peace-keeping monitors at least three months ahead of elections to prevent state-sponsored violence and intimidation and to guarantee peaceful transfer of power to the eventual winner of the elections. The peace-keeping monitors should remain on the ground a further three months after elections have been held.

5 - Ensure that the elections are robustly monitored and observed by local, regional and international groups.