SA court delays action on Zim election report

In 2002 Judge Sisi Khampepe and then Deputy chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke were commissioned by then President Thabo Mbeki to visit Zimbabwe and report back on the state of the election. The report was handed over to Mbeki but never made public, although the former president has insisted that the electoral process in Zimbabwe was completely democratic.

High Court Acting Judge Stanley Sapire, earlier this year ordered the presidency to hand over the report to the Mail & Guardian newspaper within ten days. But as that deadline ran out, the presidency announced that it was applying for leave to appeal the courts decision.

Observers have said this is a clear sign that the contents of the report show that the 2002 Zimbabwean elections were neither free nor fair, as was stated by South Africas leaders. Critics have said that the report will show that South Africa by rishing to declare the controversial vote free and fair Pretoria essentially helped cover vote rigging, violence and intimidation by President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu (PF0 party.

The Mail & Guardian has been trying to have the report released since 2008, amid widespread speculation about its true contents. The newspapers efforts to access the details of the report were repeatedly denied, even after President Jacob Zuma came to power and was himself given access to the report. The government has argued that the report was confidential and contained information supplied in confidence by or on behalf of another state, for the purpose of assessing or formulating a policy.

The government has also argued that the report would lead to a deterioration of relations between the two countries, as South Africa is the facilitator in Zimbabwes ongoing political crisis.