SADC Extraordinary Summit

South African President Motlanthe, chairman of SADC, after the official
communiqué was read out [see below], when asked whether all parties
were in agreement, was unequivocal: Yes, of course.  All the parties
expressed confidence in the process and committed to implementing the
agreement.  But the  MDC immediately issued a statement saying that
was not the case. [see below].  There was no agreement. We will only
form a government subject to the resolution of all of our demands.

The Summit process was as follows: first, the Troika of the Organ on
Defence, Politics and Security [chaired by President Motlanthe –
although Swaziland in fact holds the chair] met the three party
principals; the Troika then reported to the full meeting of the Summit;
the Summit deliberated for a couple of hours; the other principals were
called back in for further discussions to agree on a communiqué; these
discussions continued for hours with Mr Tsvangirai arguing that the
MDC-T concerns were not being met; then the Summit continued in a
closed session before issuing the final communiqué.

Mr Mugabe comments on the talks were "We hope that this will open a up
a new chapter in our political relations in the country and in
structures of government," "We agreed that an inclusive government
should be formed.  Mr Tsvangirai's comments have been more equivocal. 
He said he agrees to joining a coalition agreement with Mr Mugabe only
subject to the resolution of outstanding issues that he described as
"work in progress".  He said negotiators from the three parties would
sit down from tomorrow to resolve outstanding issues. Whilst agreeing
that the timelines announced by Motlanthe would help in bringing
finality to the unity government issue, he emphasised that these
timelines were "not cast in stone" and would be breached if the need
arose and outstanding issues remained unresolved.

The MDC-T have said their National Council will consider its formal
response on Friday.  Mr Tsvangirai says if his party rejects the
Summit's decision he will take the MDC-T case to the AU Summit.  [Heads
of State will meet from 1st to 3rd February].  Patrick Chinamasa,
ZANU-PF spokesman said his party is prepared to form a government on
its own – but would give the opposition a few more days to decide
whether to join in a unity government.

The first deadline of the Communiqué – the formation of JOMIC [see
below] looks as if it may not be met as the nominations would have to
be in tomorrow [29th] for a first meeting on Friday.

Summit Communiqué

[Full text of communiqué available on request]

6.  The Extraordinary Summit noted that the people of Zimbabwe are
faced with difficult challenges and suffering that can only be
addressed once an inclusive Government is in place.

7.  In view of the above, the Extraordinary Summit decided as follows

(i)    the parties shall endeavour to cause Parliament to pass the

Constitutional Amendment No. 19 by 5 February 2009.

(ii)   the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Ministers shall be sworn in

by 11 February 2009

(iii)   the Ministers and Deputy Ministers shall be sworn in on 13 February

2009, which will conclude the process of the formation on the inclusive Government.

(iv)  The Joint-Monitoring Implementation Committee (JOMIC), provided
for in the Global Political Agreement shall be activated immediately. 
The first meeting of JOMIC shall be convened by the facilitator on 30
January 2009 and shall, among other things, elect the chairpersons;

(v)   The allocation of ministerial portfolios endorsed by the SADC

Extraordinary Summit held on 9 November 2008 shall be reviewed six (6)
months after the inauguration of the inclusive Government.

(vi)  The appointments of the Reserve Bank Governor and the Attorney
General will be dealt with by the inclusive Government after its
formation.

(vii)    The negotiators of the parties shall meet immediately to consider

the National Security Bill submitted by the MDC-T as well as the formula for the distribution of governors.

11. The Extraordinary Summit directed the chairperson of the SADC to
present the African Union at its forthcoming summit a progress report
on the implementation of the Sham- El-Sheik Resolution.  [The AU Heads
of State meet from 1st to 3rd February in Addis Ababa].

The Communiqué also expressed their appreciation for Mr Mbeki's efforts
as Facilitator and encouraged him to continue in this role

Comment :  SADC have once again supported the ZANU-PF position that the
real issues of power sharing should be hammered out once an inclusive
government is formed.  The MDC are obviously still doubtful of the
feasibility of this.

They were also disappointed that the issue of the violence against their party had not been dealt with.

MDC-T Response to Summit Communiqué [full text]

Yesterday the MDC-T issued the following response to the communiqué:

We came to this summit with five outstanding issues which are

1.  The Enactment of Constitutional Amendment Number 19

2.  The definition of National Security Council legislation.

3.  Equitable allocation of portfolio ministries.

4.  The appointment of Provincial Governors and other senior positions.

5.  The Breaches of the MOU and the GPA.

It was our expectation that the SADC processes would be above board and
be beyond reproach.  Regrettably once again we note that Mr.  Robert
Mugabe was allowed to sit in during the closed session of the plenary
meetings.  Thus once again Mr.  Mugabe has been unfairly allowed to be
a judge in his own cause.

As far as the merits are concerned, our expectations were again that
SADC would come up with a just resolution to the outstanding issues in
the interest of Zimbabwe and all the parties concerned.

Quite clearly the conclusions reached as reflected in the communiqué
fall far short of our expectations.  Most importantly they do not
accord with our National Council resolutions of the 14th of November
2008 and 12th of December 2008.

It is important that finality be brought to this issue and therefore
our National Council will meet on Friday 30th of January 2008 to define
the party position.

JOMIC

It has been so long since the Inter-Party Agreement was signed that
readers may have forgotten about JOMIC.  Here is the relevant extract
from Article

22 of the Agreement:

22.1 To ensure full and proper implementation of the letter and spirit
of this Agreement, the Parties hereby constitute a Joint Monitoring and
Implementation Committee ("JOMIC") to be composed of four senior
members from ZANU-PF and four senior members from each of the two MDC
Formations.

Gender consideration must be taken into account in relation to the composition of JOMIC.

22.2 The committee shall be co-chaired by persons from the Parties.

22.3 The committee shall have the following functions:-

(a) to ensure the implementation in letter and spirit of this Agreement;

(b) to assess the implementation of this Agreement from time to time
and consider steps which might need to be taken to ensure the speedy
and full implementation of this Agreement in its entirety;

(c) to receive reports and complaints in respect of any issue related
to the implementation, enforcement and execution of this Agreement;

(d) to serve as catalyst in creating and promoting an atmosphere of mutual trust and understanding between the parties; and

(e) to promote continuing dialogue between the Parties.

22.4 JOMIC shall be the principal body dealing with the issues of
compliance and monitoring of this Agreement and to that end, the
Parties hereby undertake to channel all complaints, grievances,
concerns and issues relating to compliance with this Agreement through
JOMIC and to refrain from any conduct which might undermine the spirit
of co-operation necessary for the fulfilment of this Agreement.

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