Back to Index

Zimbabwe CSOs meet South African facilitation team in Pretoria, South Africa
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition
August 15, 2007

Representatives of Civil Society Organizations (CSO's) from Zimbabwe had a four hour meeting in Pretoria with the SA Mediation team led by Honourable Mafumadi the Local government Minister in South Africa.

The team explained their mandate as one which involved facilitation of dialogue and not necessarily mediation between the political parties ZANU PF and MDC. The representatives included a broad section of the civic society, unions and churches, such as Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU); Women's Coalition; National Association of Non Governmental Organization (NANGO), Bulawayo Agenda, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), Law Society of Zimbabwe, National Constitutional Assembly (NCA); Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU), Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition and a representative from the Save Zimbabwe Campaign.

The team clarified that CSOs have no seat in the political dialogue but that in terms of the SADC treaty and method of doing business, it was important for the voice of CSO's to be heard since they represent the views of a significant number of Zimbabweans. Representatives of CSOs raised key issues that are necessary to be done before the crisis of governance in Zimbabwe is resolved. The issues raised are the following:

• There is need to work towards a people driven constitution that entrenches democratic governance as a pre-requisite to holding democratic elections;
• The electoral framework must be reviewed to make it comply with the barest minimum requirements of the SADC guidelines and other recognized international standards;
• The practice of organized violence and torture has to be dismantled in a credible and transparent manner so that Zimbabweans can live in an atmosphere of peace, freedom and security;
• The SADC state need to ensure that there is food and security in Zimbabwe and to ensure that the practice and use of food as a political to should be banned forthwith;
• There is need to repeal repressive laws such as AIPPA and POSA;
• There is need to open up access to public media by all sectors of society;
• There is an urgent need to restore the rule of law in Zimbabwe, in particular, through compliance with court orders and decisions and recommendations of the African Commission on people and human rights and other international human rights bodies.

The team wants to ensure that in resolving the Zimbabwe crisis the 2008 elections are key in that Zimbabweans need to hold elections whose outcome could not be contested.

It was then suggested strongly that indicators for the creation of a climate that allows for free and fair elections needed to be developed and timeframes stipulated so that the facilitation process can be credible and transparent.

It was also agreed that CSOs being key to the resolution of the Zimbabwean crisis will be engaged by the team on an ongoing basis to ensure effective consultation with a broad spectrum of the Zimbabwean community. In particular, representatives of CSOs emphasized the need for a constitutional review that is located in effective civic participation. They firmly rejected the idea of subordinating constitutional making processes to parliament. The process must be owned by the Zimbabwean people for it to be credible.

The facilitation team and the representatives of civil societies noted that Zimbabwean and South African people are mutually intertwined both in our history and destiny. The representatives of CSOs undertake to continue to engage the Facilitation team to ensure that the Zimbabwean crisis is being resolved in a manner that ensures inclusivity, transparency and credibility in process, substance and outcome.

Visit the Crisis in Zimbabwe fact sheet

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP