Back to Index

This article participates on the following special index pages:

Zimbabwe Briefing - Issue 81
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (SA Regional Office)
July 05, 2012

Download this document
- Acrobat PDF version (663KB)
If you do not have the free Acrobat reader on your computer, download it from the Adobe website by clicking here

Zimbabwe Civil Society Advocacy Mission to Namibia

This week Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition is leading a delegation of civil society representatives on an advocacy mission in Namibia to raise awareness on several critical issues affecting Zimbabwe's difficult political transition.

This comes at a time when, in a move indicative of escalating persecution and intimidation, earlier this week, Zimbabwe's police issued summons to Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum's Executive Director, Able Chikomo to appear in court on 25 July for trial on spurious charges of allegedly running an 'illegal organization.'

Although SADC has brokered a roadmap to free and fair elections, signed to by Zimbabwe's political principals, the central challenge remains that of total lack of political will and sincerity in implementing agreed reforms and agreeing to critical reforms. Political parties remain locked in negotiations over a new constitution, which at best, will result in a compromise document and a package of superficial reforms that can be put forward to justify the holding of elections.

But those elections will not be within a conducive environment and certainly will not enable Zimbabweans to freely express their will. Members of the security forces, particularly certain military leaders, continue to entrench themselves in partisan politics. The military factor, coupled with access to resources from diamond revenue and the opaque indigenization, program are the driving factors for rapid democratic regression.

Some military and central intelligence chiefs are after political power, clearly planning for life after Mugabe, to secure their economic and personal security interests driven by an obvious fear of prosecution should there be democratic regime change in the country. It is unlikely that assurances of immunity and safety will be accepted by the security chiefs if given by the domestic political actors without a strong regional backing.

For external players like Namibia, SADC, the AU, UN and the rest of the international community, the way to arrest democratic regression and ensure the complete separation of the military from political affairs would be to make it abundantly clear that military rule, no matter how disguised, will not be condoned.

SADC must devise a mechanism to urgently deal with the non-implementation of various plans agreed to under Global Political Agreement. Otherwise the road to yet another disastrous election will be paved with beautifully worded agreements and commitments that no-one puts into practice.

Download full document

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