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Mbeki lauded for Zim efforts
05/02/2008 16:29 - (SA)
Cape Town - The Southern African Development Community on Tuesday lauded President Thabo Mbeki's mediation efforts between Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF and opposition MDC, despite MDC insistence it has failed.
Mbeki briefed the SADC summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia last Thursday and Friday on the status of negotiations between President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
According to the SADC Secretariat on Tuesday, the two parties had reached agreement on all substantive matters relating to the political situation in Zimbabwe, which the ruling party and the opposition had placed on their negotiations agenda.
This included the Constitution, electoral laws, security legislation, communication legislation, and matters relating to the political climate in Zimbabwe, such as the land question, sanctions, politically motivated violence, and external interference in Zimbabwe.
Big changes
The most urgent of these, including constitutional and statutory changes, had already been put into effect through constitutional and legal amendments approved by the Zimbabwe's parliament, to which Mugabe had assented.
The only outstanding matter related to the procedure to be followed is enacting the agreed draft Constitution, the statement said.
"The summit welcomed the good progress made by the Zimbabwe negotiating parties and congratulated them for successfully concluding their negotiations.
"The summit thanked the SADC facilitator President Mbeki and his facilitation team, for the role they had played in helping to achieve this outcome and asked President Mbeki to continue in his role as facilitator, to help the Zimbabwe parties to conclude the outstanding 'procedural' matter of the enactment of the agreed draft Constitution," they said.
Senior MDC member and economic affairs spokesperson Eddie Cross conceded that after nine months of negotiation under the auspices of SADC, huge progress had been made.
"A comprehensive package of reforms - some of which have been implemented, was negotiated, giving us the chance of a free and fair electoral process if implemented," he said.
"[However] Mugabe, who all along had been negotiating under duress, was eventually faced with the decision - allow these reforms and face defeat or just tell his South African and SADC colleagues that they were asking too much - he decided on the latter."
Last option
Cross said Mbeki was forced to use his last option - to confront Mugabe's refusal to implement the deal negotiated at a meeting of SADC Heads of State.
"He did so last week at Addis on the sidelines of the AU summit and we understand he pulled no punches.
"However in the end Mugabe was backed by three other heads of state -Swaziland, Namibia and Angola - and Mbeki came away with no decision.
"So when the MDC leadership gathered in Harare this weekend to consider the question of fighting the next election, now just two months away, it was against the background of a failed mediation effort by President Mbeki," Cross said.
In addition to this setback, the MDC faced the reality that despite the reforms already adopted and passed through Parliament with its assistance, the regime in Harare was maintaining its policies against the MDC.
Marches and rallies were being banned, there was no sign of any reform in the media and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission was totally under the control and direction of the Zanu-PF led regime, and was being staffed with many of the old electoral management from the security services, he said.
- SAPA
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