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Mbeki to lead SADC delegation to Harare
Zim-Online
January 12, 2005

http://www.zimonline.co.za/headdetail.asp?ID=770

HARARE - A top-level Southern African Development Community (SADC) delegation is expected in Zimbabwe next week to assess whether conditions in the country comply with regional guidelines for democratic elections, sources told ZimOnline last night.

Zimbabwe holds a general election in March and the country's main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party has threatened to boycott the crucial poll arguing that electoral laws and conditions do not conform with standards agreed by SADC leaders in Mauritius last year.

The source said the SADC leaders and the two Zimbabwean political parties had agreed that Mbeki, who will lead the delegation, shall announce the visit shortly.

Authoritative sources in both the ruling ZANU PF party and the MDC said a three-member delegation comprising South African President Thabo Mbeki, Botswana President Festus Mogae and Lesotho Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili were expected in the country next week.

According to the sources, the troika's visit follows last year's visits to South Africa by MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe.

"The MDC president told Mbeki that Mugabe was not complying with the standards set in Mauritius. Mugabe later told Mbeki during his own visit that he was ready to subject himself to a peer review on compliance ahead of the parliamentary elections in March," said one source.

Efforts to get comment from Mbeki's office last night were fruitless with his spokesman Bheki Khumalo said to be away on leave while Khumalo's deputy Malerato Sekha was said to be away with the South African President in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

Under the SADC electoral guidelines, independent commissions must oversee polls while electoral laws and processes must be fair and transparent. All political parties must be allowed access to the public media while human rights and the rule of law must be upheld during elections.

The MDC accuses the government of half-heartedly adhering to the regional standards and says a new Zimbabwe Electoral Commission proposed by the government will lack independence because its chairman will be appointed by Mugabe while its other four members will be nominated by a government-dominated parliament.

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