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This article participates on the following special index pages:
Inclusive government - Index of articles
Creating
conditions for free and fair elections: Understanding the core mandate
of the inclusive government
Prof. Arthur G.O. Mutambara, DPM Republic
of Zimbabwe
August 28, 2009
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There has been
a lot of speculation, discussion and questions raised about what
transpired at the retreat of the Zimbabwean Cabinet on the 22nd
and 23rd of August 2009, in the resort mountain of Nyanga. We had
a very focused and productive two-day workshop. I made two separate
presentations. On the first day, Saturday, my topic was: The Case
for Monitoring and Evaluation: Embracing Global Best Practice. This
was executed without any hitches. On the second day, Sunday, I presented
on: A Review of the Previous Day and an Update of the Rebranding
and Shared Vision Efforts. It was during this discussion that there
was an unfortunate misunderstanding over one matter.
Let me state
clearly and up-front, that, it was never my intention to insult
or to offend my colleagues in the inclusive government. I was giving
a review of what had been discussed the day before in what is called
the Rights and Interests Cluster of Ministries. This is the group
of Ministries responsible for the tasks of supervising the crafting
of a new people-driven constitution, national healing, media and
political reforms. One of the challenges that the participants in
this cluster identified as impeding progress was the lack of political
will within the inclusive government. This was identified as a major
constraint, which is retarding progress towards the achievement
of the targets and goals of this cluster. In reviewing this matter
I sought to emphasise the importance of the work and targets of
the Ministries in question, and dramatise the categorical imperativeness
of their success.
In particular
I was emphasising the importance of political reforms, media reforms,
new constitution and national healing. In my review remarks, I indicated
that the core outcome of this government is the creation of conditions
for free and fair elections in Zimbabwe. This is critical so that
the outcome of our next polls is not in dispute. We do not want
an inconclusive and problematic election whose results are challenged.
We must build integrity and legitimacy of our electoral processes
so that the losers congratulate the winners and the winners form
a legitimate elected government. Part of the journey to this state
of affairs requires successful implementation a national healing
and reconciliation program, crafting of a truly people-driven constitution,
deepening of political and media reforms including transparency
and accountability in all electoral processes. In order to buttress
and amplify my argument, I emphasized that it is essential for members
of the government and the generality of the people of Zimbabwe to
understand the history, background, and hence the mandate of this
inclusive government. Vana veZimbabwe hatifaniri kukanganwa chezuro
ngehope. (Zimbabweans, we should not fail to address the challenges
and conditions of our immediate past because of a temporary reprieve
in our circumstances.)
This Inclusive
Government came into being because our elections in March and June
of last year were inconclusive and problematic. We had challenges
around our elections. This is common cause. This is the reason why
we went into negotiations from June 27 2008 to February 11 this
year. There was no government in Zimbabwe from June 27th 2008 to
11th February 2009. Why? This is because all the elections of 2008
did not produce a government. This is profound. Elections must produce
a government. It means in Zimbabwe we have an electoral disease
to cure. The solution lies in the creation of conditions for free
and fair elections. This has to be a key outcome of this Inclusive
Government. This was the context of the discussion in Nyanga. Where
the discomfort arose was when I used the phrase "The election
on March 29th 2008 was fraudulent and that on June 27th 2008 was
a farce and a nullity." Well, well, every Zimbabwean knows
that this is a true statement. There is agreement that this is the
scientific description of those polls. The observers, SADC and the
AU came to the same conclusions. With hindsight one could say maybe
I could have looked for more polite language to express this agreed
fact. That is a fair comment, but the import and essence of my message
on the need for reforms are not disputable. We are in this inclusive
government because of the challenges and problems we had in March
and June, last year.
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