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This article participates on the following special index pages:
Talks, dialogue, negotiations and GNU - Post June 2008 "elections" - Index of articles
Open
letter to SADC leaders
Feminist
Education Political Project
October
29, 2008
RE:
Women's Position on the Zimbabwe Dialogue on the forth-coming
SADC Summit
The Feminist Political Education Project (FePEP), is a feminist
collective which has set as its key agenda engaging with political
processes dedicated to setting and shaping the future of Zimbabwe.
As a non partisan collective, our engagement has been mainly through
monitoring any political conversation or space dedicated to Zimbabwe
and directly engaging with the relevant stakeholders and processes
to ensure that women's voices and views are part of the political
development of our country.
We write this
letter to you, in recognition of your strategic importance to the
country of Zimbabwe and the role your country has played and is
able to continue playing during on-going dialogue on Zimbabwe. In
particular we would like to raise, the following issues that we
understand, have become critical in the dialogue process.
Position
on delay in cabinet formation talks
It is our considered view, that the delay in concluding the Zimbabwe
Dialogue talks has exacerbated the suffering of people in Zimbabwe
and all efforts must be made to conclude these talks as a matter
of urgency. With regards to this, we urge you to take note that
Zimbabwe is now in the midst of a full scale humanitarian crisis
namely;
- People are
dying of hunger on a daily basis; indications from humanitarian
organisation are that 30% of this country's population is
at the risk of starvation.
- Zimbabweans
at large have not been able to access safe water and sanitation.
This has lead to outbreaks of cholera and other water- borne diseases
throughout the country.
- The health
system has all but collapsed with two major hospitals in Harare
no longer accepting new patients and in fact, discharging patients
for lack of medical personnel, medicine and food supplies.
In light of
the above, we urge your Excellencies to impress upon SADC the need
for SADC to speedily resolve the dialogue process in Zimbabwe. We
recognise the limited mandate of the SADC Mediator, His Excellency
Mr Mbeki, hence the call for SADC to exercise Arbitration powers
in the Zimbabwean dispute. We draw your attention to the fact that
Zimbabwe currently has a crisis of leadership which is the reason
we are in this untenable position. It would therefore be futile
for SADC to refer the Zimbabwean issue back to the political parties
for negotiations. This is what has been happening in the last three
years and has failed to yield results. Arbitration is necessary.
We believe the time has come for SADC to make a determination on
the dispute on Zimbabwe and to put in place provisions to effect
the said decision as well as sanction those parties that may fail
or exhibit unwillingness to comply with the SADC determination.
While we appreciate
that political parties will seek to act in politically expedient
ways, it is our view that SADC should now impress upon our political
leadership the need to put aside political party allegiance and
patronage for the sake of the Zimbabwean nation. As stated in the
Global Political Agreement
(GPA) the political parties have an obligation to 'Put Zimbabwe
first'.
The GPA had
put into place a time frame of 18 months for the formulation of
a new Constitution (under Constitutional Amendment 19) that would
address outstanding matters. However, the delay in the cabinet formation
talks has effectively cost the constitutional process a delay of
two months, which gravely jeopardises the Constitution.
Position
on key/important Ministries
We have noted with interest the identification of certain ministries
as being strategic and in fact note that in the SADC Troika communiqué
of 28 October 2008 the insurmountable hurdle was how to manage the
Ministry of Home Affairs. While we were encouraged by that fact
that the political parties expressed an interest in cooperative
management of the said ministry, we were then perturbed that an
agreement could not be reached on the management of the said ministry.
Upon reflection we are of the view that the dispute relating to
the Ministry of Home Affairs should be unpacked for what it really
is.
The Ministry
of Home Affairs has a history characterised by unsavoury exercise
of state power. In the context of transformative and inclusive government,
the said identity needs to change. Consequently the control of this
Ministry should no longer be about the control of coercive or military
power, as it is clear that this how the political parties have interpreted
this Ministry to represent. Thus the proposed cooperative management
of this Ministry as agreed to by the political parties and accepted
by the SADC Troika, is a reasonable option considering chequered
past of the Ministry and the current political polarization.
It is our firm
view that key ministries should not be determined by the amount
of political power linked to them but rather by what service can
be given to the electorate who have ravaged by 10 years of deteriorating
socio-economic conditions.
We register
concern with the manner in which our political leadership seem focused
on securing or guaranteeing their political survival in the new
government at the expense of ordinary Zimbabweans and in particular,
women.
Position
on elections
We are alarmed by the call from some quarters within SADC for fresh
elections in Zimbabwe, against the background of full scale humanitarian
crisis in Zimbabwe. Elections have failed to resolve the Zimbabwean
situation. It is our firm belief that after having undergone eight
(8) Elections in eight (8) years (excluding By- Elections and the
Presidential re-run), elections in the Zimbabwean context have lost
their integrity. The violence that accompanies each election has
left Zimbabweans, in particular women, traumatized by the very concept
of elections and a distinct sense of voter fatigue.
Elections
held in Zimbabwe 1999-2008
- 1999 Referendum
- 2000 General
Parliamentary Elections
- 2002 Presidential
Elections
- 2003 Urban
Council Elections
- 2005 General
Parliamentary Elections
- 2006 Senatorial
& Rural Council Elections
- 2008 Harmonized
Local Government, Parliamentary & Presidential
Elections
and the Presidential run-off
In the light of the above, we appeal to your Excellencies, to encourage
speedy resolution of the Zimbabwe Dialogue because women are continuing
to die of hunger while SADC refers the matter back and forth; hesitant
to make a decision that would save peoples lives. Your Excellencies,
it our firm belief that final resolution of the Zimbabwe question,
lies fully with SADC and history will judge SADC harshly should
it fail to arrest the exploding humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe.
SADC has a responsibility and indeed a duty to help Zimbabwean leaders
help themselves as they have clearly failed collectively, to resolve
the issues affecting their electorate.
Yours sincerely,
FePEP
Harare
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