SADC summit on Zimbabwe delayed to Monday

By Tichaona Sibanda

The SADC summit on Zimbabwe, which was due in Maputo, Mozambique on Sunday, will now be held in Pretoria, South Africa on Monday, according to sources. 

SW Radio Africa is reliably informed that the summit was postponed by a day to give all parties to the GPA enough time to consult on a date for elections.

President Jacob Zuma’s facilitation team spent hours on Thursday in meetings with GPA negotiators in Harare. They were insisting that by the time all parties attend the summit, there should be an agreed date for an election.

This prompted the ZANU PF negotiators to ask for a postponement to allow its negotiators time to consult President Robert Mugabe, who is currently outside the country.

The summit on Zimbabwe is due to be convened at a time when there is mounting disagreement between the political parties following the Constitutional Court ruling that Mugabe should proclaim an election date before July 31st.

The ruling last week suits Robert Mugabe better than his political opponents, who have however ganged up in a rare show of unity to condemn the court’s election ruling. The five parties – the MDC-T, MDC-N, ZAPU, MKD and ZANU Ndonga – have united to demand changes to laws that inhibit freedom of association, movement and expression and the media.

They have agreed to speak with one voice at the SADC summit to call for the security sector to be reformed in line with the new constitution, which demands neutrality.

That court judgment, described as an ‘election judgment fiasco’ by a leading human rights lawyer, dominated much of the discussion between Zuma’s team and the GPA negotiators.

While all parties, including Zuma’s team, were trying to abide by the court ruling and work out if it was feasible to hold elections before 31st July, legal experts say it will not be possible.

Senator David Coltart, the Education Minister and MDC-N secretary for Legal Affairs, told SW Radio Africa that while it is the duty of everybody to respect the court ruling, it brings with it a big challenge for politicians and Mugabe.

‘The dilemma we find ourselves in is that it is impossible to hold elections in compliance with that court judgement without breaking other provisions of the new constitution.

‘In essence, the new constitution says we must go through a 30 day process to re-register voters. And subsequent to that is a period specified by the constitution that there should be another 30 day period between nomination day and the election itself. Nomination day starts immediately after voter registration. So you are looking at 60 days from June 10th when voter registration starts,’ Coltart said.

He continued: ‘These two processes cannot run concurrently. They have to run separately. There is no way round it and it is clear these constitutional requirements will go beyond July 31st.’

The Minister suggested it would be wise for Mugabe and any other interested party to approach the constitutional court and ask the bench to revise the order. SW Radio Africa