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Zimbabwe
country report - May-July 2009
Open
Society Institute for Southern Africa (OSISA)
August
31, 2009
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Situational
analysis
The period May
to July 2009 saw the six-month-old inclusive government grappling
with the implementation of the Global
Political Agreement (GPA) signed by the three political formations
in September last year. Violations of the agreement perpetrated
largely by the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU
PF) continued during the period under review, thereby frustrating
efforts aimed at wooing foreign investors, resuscitating the economy
and addressing deepening poverty and social dislocation. Key institutions
in the governance system such as the Judiciary and Parliament remains
under siege from a ZANU PF regime determined to hold on to power
at all costs. This explains why arbitrary arrests and incarceration
of human rights defenders and Members of Parliament (MPs) from the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) on trumped-up charges showed
no signs of abetting. The constitution-making process kicked off
during the period, but immediately ran into serious difficulties
after supporters of Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF disrupted the
First All Stakeholders Conference aimed at obtaining buy-in from
stakeholders and setting up thematic committees to spearhead the
public outreach programme.
ZANU PF is trying
to impose a draft negotiated in Kariba by representatives of the
political parties long before the formation of the inclusive government.
The imposition of the Kariba
Draft, which retains wide-ranging executive powers within the
Presidency, is in complete violation of the GPA which sets a time
frame for coming up with a people-driven constitution for Zimbabwe.
The key benchmarks
for the success of the inclusive government borrowed from the GPA
are as follows:
- A credible,
inclusive and people-driven constitution-making process;
- A legislative
agenda that repeals all repressive and bad laws and restores civil
liberties;
- Reforming
state institutions such as security and electoral bodies;
- Revamping
basic social services such as education and health;
- An acceptable
programme of economic reform.
This country
situational analysis provides a critical analysis of what has happened
in Zimbabwe during the period May to July 2009. The analysis reviews
progress with the above benchmarks and specifically focuses on the
following broad areas:
- Parliament
and the Courts - This looks at issues such as key legislation
passed, key decisions passed by the courts, the state of the judiciary
and its independence.
- The Executive
- This section mainly reviews major policies made and problems
encountered in the formulation and implementation of policy.
- The Opposition
and Political Parties - This is about general developments around
political parties, important policy pronouncements and availability
of space for opposition participation in political processes.
- Civil Society
- This section mainly deals with the operating environment for
civic society and an update on the situation of women and girls'
rights.
- The Economy
- This looks at economic and social indicators and an analysis
of economic developments from a pro-poor perspective.
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