Zanu PF claim monitors infringe sovereignty

Zanu PF’s increasing desperation was highlighted this week when the party claimed it will resist SADC monitors because they ‘infringe on our sovereignty.’ Despite it being agreed at the last SADC summit, Zanu PF is now claiming the appointment of non-Zimbabweans is problematic.

Last week South African President Jacob Zuma’s facilitation team tried to arrange for three officials – from South Africa, Zambia and Mozambique to join the multi-party Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (JOMIC) a body empowered to ensure that agreements among the parties are observed.

Mugabe’s party is also trying to push for the removal of Jacob Zuma as the chief facilitator arguing he cannot play that role and also be the chairman of the SADC Troika on Defence and Security. Most of the outstanding issues stem from the refusal of Zanu-PF to implement many of the agreements it signed in the September 2008 Global Political Agreement that created the coalition government.

Negotiators from Zanu PF, MDC-T and MDC met in Johannesburg on Saturday with South African facilitators, but reportedly failed to agree on sticking issues, stoking fears the Luanda meeting could just be a waste of time. SADC leaders gather Tuesday in Luanda for the regional bloc’s annual summit, where Zimbabwe’s protracted political crisis looks set to top the agenda.