SADC seen pushing for Zim poll delay

A diplomat who will attend the meeting in South Africa at the weekend said the Southern African Development Community (SADC) bloc was developing fatigue over Harares political problems and would have preferred a quick election but is afraid that without reforms, Zimbabwes crisis would continue to blight the region.

The 87-year-old Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party are pushing hard for elections this year, driven mostly by a need to have the ageing leader contest the elections before his health deteriorates.

Mugabe has travelled several times to Singapore this year on trips some of his officials say are linked to treatment for prostate cancer.

Mugabe is still smarting from the SADC Troika summit in Livingstone, Zambia in April, which for the first criticised Zimbabwes longtime ruler for a crackdown on coalition government opponents.

South African President Jacob Zuma will present the Livingstone summit report and the election roadmap for adoption by the full SADC summit and push Mugabe and Tsvangirai to fully implement their power-sharing pact known as the global political agreement before holding fresh elections.

SADC is very keen to see Zimbabwes leadership fully implement the global political agreement and President Zuma will impress upon the Summit to adopt the election roadmap, the SADC diplomat said.

The diplomat told ZimOnline that most countries were convinced that Zimbabwe was not ready to hold elections this year.

Zimbabwes Parliament would need to pass amendments to the Electoral Act, clean-up its voters roll, amend the notorious Public Order and Security Act, remove military personnel from the countryside, fully comply with the global political agreement and adopt a new constitution before going to elections.

The feeling among most SADC is that if all these processes are done Zimbabwe there is no reason not to have elections the next day. I dont want to put a date to it but it might be that elections in Zimbabwe could be held between March and June next year, the diplomat said.

ZANU-PF and the MDC send advance delegates to South Africa to lobby SADC countries to come up with a decision in their favour.

ZANU-PF argues that it has complied with the global political agreement and that it is the MDC which has not called for lifting of sanctions and convinced foreign radio stations to stop broadcasting into Zimbabwe.

But the MDC says ZANU-PF have failed to appoint MDC officials as provincial governors even thought there is an agreement and that Mugabe is resisting broadcasting and security reforms as part of a package seen critical to peaceful and free elections.

A Zimbabwe government official however said ZANU-PF had suffered a setback after one of its allies Angolan President Jose Eduardo do Santos told Mugabe that it was in the regions interest to hold elections when all outstanding issues were resolved.

The source said Angola feared a disputed election in Zimbabwe could ignite protests that have swept Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, which could then spread in the region. Dos Santos, who has ruled Angola since 1979, has not held a presidential election since 1992.

Analysts say Mugabes advanced age and his failure to groom a successor has become the biggest threat to Zimbabwes future stability and its transition to democracy.

South Africas ruling ANC party has already said the three governing parties, including Mugabes ZANU-PF, fear that should Mugabe retire or die in office this could jeorpadise the adoption of a new democratic constitution that is being drafted.

This summit should reaffirm the decision of the troika in Livingstone which ZAU-PF is trying to reverse, John Makumbe, a political commentator and Mugabe critic said.

I think we will see an outcome that will in a way force ZANU-PF in particular to agree to the election roadmap and put all this election talk to rest.

ZANU-PF has prepared a dossier in which it portrays the MDC as a violent political party in the clutches of the West to remove Mugabe from power.

The former liberation movement has also criticised Zuma, suggesting he was using information from the MDC to come up with his reports.

In the aftermath of the Livingstone summit, the weekly Sunday Mail, which reflects ZANU-PF thinking, attacked Zuma as erratic while questioning his role as Zimbabwe mediator and said he was not a liability to Africans.

For ZANU-PF I think this will be more of damage control than anything else. I dont see the summit taking a different decision other than that of the troika, Makumbe said.