Delays in fully implementing the GPA seemed to prolong the process unnecessarily admitted South African president and SADC-appointed mediator Jacob Zuma His report to the meeting noted that: If the agreement on the 24 items is implemented on schedule it would lay the basis for the conviction to grow that Zimbabwe can reach her goal of holding free and fair elections, whose results would be acceptable to all.
He said the critical issue was to ensure a sustained focus on developments in Zimbabwe towards the elections; the monitoring of the situation and timely interventions to deal with problems as and when they arise. During the past two years, timely interventions by the GPA guarantors have been sadly lacking. Dare we hope this will now change?