SA sees free Zim elections
03/02/2005 13:48  - (SA)  

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Pretoria - The government on Thursday said there were "positive signs" that the March 31 parliamentary elections in Zimbabwe will be free and fair and pledged to help Harare reach that goal.

Government spokesperson Joel Netshitenzhe said it was too soon to gauge whether conditions for holding democratic elections in Zimbabwe had been met but he noted: "There are positive signs."

He cited a recent decision to give the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) air time on state television and radio and new electoral laws creating an independent electoral commission.

"There are positive developments that the government of Zimbabwe will as close as possible comply with the protocols agreed by SADC," Netshitenzhe told reporters following a cabinet meeting.

Leaders of the 14-member Southern African Development Community, to which Zimbabwe belongs, agreed in August to a set of principles for elections that include access to the media and freedom from police harassment.

"The government will continue working within the SADC collective to ensure that this objective is attained," said Netshitenzhe.

The opposition MDC is expected to announce on Thursday that it will contest the elections despite its misgivings about whether the vote will be clean of the fraud and vote-rigging allegations that marred the 2000 and 2002 polls.

President Thabo Mbeki's cabinet however refused to criticise Zimbabwe for deporting a 15-member delegation of trade unionists who had travelled to Harare on Wednesday to report on labour rights in the southern African country.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), instead met on Thursday with their Zimbabwean counterparts in a border town after sharply criticising President Robert Mugabe's government.

"What is it that the government has to hide?" said Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi on Wednesday.

"If it is really levelling the playing field and conforming to SADC norms, how can they feel threatened by people carrying pens and notebooks."

- AFP

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