MDC wants aborted SADC summit reconvened

Speaking after a meeting of the MDC-T national executive and national council in Harare last Thursday, Tsvangirai said SADC should urgently reconvene the meeting of its security troika which failed to take place in Botswana last month. Pursuant to the aborted extra-ordinary meeting of the SADC Organ Troika of the 20th of November 2010, council calls on SADC to immediately reconvene the aborted meeting, Tsvangirai told reporters in Harare.

The former opposition leader, who is one-third of a shaky coalition government with Mugabe and Arthur Mutambara of a smaller MDC faction, said the SADC summit should discuss an election roadmap to elections as well as toxic issues including the issue of violence, deployment, of security agents in the countryside and a corrosive media. The initial meeting was cancelled after two key members of the SADC security troika Zambias President Rupiah Banda and President

Armando Guebuza mysteriously failed to turn up for the summit.

Tsvangirai said the MDC-T council was concerned about the failure by the coalition government to implement the 24 outstanding issues agreed by the global political agreement (GPA) principals. Council…now calls on the principals of the parties to take measures to implement and execute the agreed positions as reflected in the negotiators report dated the 3rd of April 2010 and more importantly, to enforce and uphold the implementation matrix as agreed by the principals on the 8th of June 2010, he said.

On elections, the Prime Minister said his partys position was that Zimbabweans should only go for elections to choose a new president next year while parliamentary polls should be held in 2013. For the avoidance of doubt, council resolves that the next election should be solely for the disputed presidential election of 2008 with a harmonised election to be held in 2013 as prescribed in the Constitution, he said.

The MDC-T council also said neither Mugabe nor Zanu (PF) have the right to unilaterally call for the presidential election, insisting that Article 23.1.b of the GPA and the 8th Schedule of the Constitution stipulated that the President has to consult his coalition partners. The SADC elections roadmap should deal with the creation of adequate conditions for a free and fair election, guarantees against violence and security of people, proper monitoring and policing of the election including the question of SADC presence six months before and six months after the election and guarantees with respect to the

honouring of the peoples will.