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Statement on briefing with the SADC Observer Mission
Prime
Minister’s Office
March 16, 2013
Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai has urged SADC to consider convening a full SADC
Summit after the holding
of the referendum to focus on Zimbabwe and help to cement a
roadmap to free, fair and credible elections.
The Prime Minister
on Friday held an hour-long briefing with the SADC Observer Mission
in the country to observe the conduct of the constitutional referendum.
He said SADC,
as the Guarantor of the GPA,
should use a full Summit to assess whether Zimbabwe was ready for
free, fair and credible elections based on a checklist on agreed
positions. The Summit could use its past Resolutions as a yardstick
to measure compliance with the Bloc’s standards for the conduct
of free and fair elections as there seems to be no political will
from Zanu PF to fully implement the GPA.
The Prime Minister
highlighted the following key issues to the Observer Mission;
The
referendum
The Prime Minister
appreciated the SADC Observer Mission for coming to Zimbabwe and
thanked SADC for the regional Bloc’s tutelage of the Global
Political Agreement.
The Prime Minister
highlighted that the holding of the referendum was in line with
the reform process espoused by SADC, being a part of the requirements
for resolving the Zimbabwean crisis.
The Premier
told the delegation that five objectives were set out at the formation
of the Inclusive
Government, which included; constitutional reform, restoration
of peace, macro-economic stability, intervention in the social sector
and implementation of key reforms before the conduct of a referendum
and subsequently elections.
Some of the
key reforms include security sector re-alignment and media reforms,
areas which were still outstanding as there has not been movement
towards realignment. He said that it would be tragic to go for elections
without key reforms.
The
deployment of senior military personnel in provinces
The Prime Minister
expressed concern at the deployment of senior military officers
ahead of the referendum and elections. He said the actions by security
personnel showed a lack of paradigm shift despite years of existence
of the Inclusive Government.
The Premier
said the deployment of senior military officers who have in the
past publicly threatened to subvert civilian rule was worrying in
that it posed a serious threat on the security of the people and
security of the vote. He said these were worrying warning signs
which posed a serious threat on the credibility of the elections.
Resurgence
of violence
The Premier
said the other area of difficulty was the resurgence of violence,
citing the murder of Christpowers Maisiri in Headlands, the attack
on MDC activists and BBC reporters in Mbare on Friday as tell-tell
signs of impunity during political contestation.
Selective
application of the law
The Prime Minister
highlighted the partisan nature of the police and the Attorney General’s
office in handling political cases. He told the delegation about
the Glen View 31, some of whom are still in remand prison, more
than year after being linked to the murder of a police officer in
Glen View.
The Prime Minister
highlighted the use of draconian legislation such as POSA
and AIPPA
and unilateral decisions to harass civil society leaders.
The
partisan police force
Dr Tsvangirai
said the Principals shall convene a meeting with Co-Home Affairs
Ministers and the Commissioner General of Police to ensure the return
to professionalism within the service.
Voter
registration
Prime Minister
Tsvangirai highlighted the challenges regarding the voter registration
process. He said a month-long blitz to ensure voter registration
will be carried out.
The Prime Minister
said he was worried by the tactics being used by the Registrar General’s
office to disenfranchise first time voters and those people who
were previously classified as aliens. The RG’s office was
demanding several documents which were not normally required for
one to register to aliens. In some instances hoards of soldiers
were being bussed to registration centres to disturb the registrations.
Troika
presence in JOMIC
The Premier
called for the SADC Troika representatives to urgently start working
with JOMIC, adding that the monitoring body will now be required
to present detailed reports to Cabinet.
The PM said
he hoped that both the referendum and the elections would be held
in a peaceful manner, but expressed concern on the recurrence of
violence and intimidation by security forces.
The observers
called for full implementation of all agreed issues in the GPA.
I thank you
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