SADC's True Position on Zimbabwe

Leaders gather at the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) where a resolution was passed on the situation in Zimbabwe. President Mugabe is shown on the far right of the photograph., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Sadc's true position on Zimbabwe

Monday, 13 June 2011 23:03
Zimbabwe Herald

NO amount of agenda-setting or misinformation can change the outcome of the Extraordinary Summit of Sadc Heads of State and Government that rejected the Livingstone Troika document and refused to entertain issues outside the province of the GPA, analysts have said.

The two-day extraordinary summit, held at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa, over the weekend; caught merchants of illegal regime change flat-footed with some ascribing their own, hoped for meanings, to a communiqué that is in black and white.

Much of the media reports stem from insistence by MDC formations that the Livingstone report was adopted by summit when it was not.

A southern African diplomat accre-dited to Zimbabwe told The Herald, on condition of anonymity, that those conversant with diplomatic conventions would ascribe no other meaning to the fact that summit's decision to "note" rather than "endorse" the Livingstone report meant that Livingstone was consigned to the dustbins of history.

‘‘In diplomatic terms, if there is a report of a sub-committee of a body, if the report is not adopted that's the death of the report, and if you notice the communiqué has no reference to Livingstone,'' the source said adding, ‘‘If the Livingstone document was still a living document of Sadc, then it would have been formally adopted by summit, which it wasn't.

"So the fact of none adoption, of silence marked the death of the Livingstone document.

‘‘In any case, all the principals from the three parties acknowledged that the situation in Zimbabwe was now radically different from what it was during the time of the Livingstone Troika Summit,'' he said.

Despite this, in a statement released after the summit, the MDC formations principally MDC-T, made several claims among them that summit had adopted the Livingstone communiqué, that the facilitator report had identified Zanu-PF as the offending party in Government and that Sadc resolved that the Troika would appoint a team of officials to join Jomic to ensure the monitoring, evaluation and full implementation of the GPA.

‘‘It is gratifying to note that the Sadc summit adopted the resolutions of the troika in Livingstone.

"The adoption of the facilitator's report is particularly important for Zimbabwe as it identifies Zanu-PF as the offending party in the Inclusive Government,'' the MDC-T statement said in part.

Other papers claimed President Mugabe had been shot down over elections.
Contacted for comment, Presidential spokesman Mr George Charamba laughed off the poll claims.

‘‘You can not argue, you can not claim that Sadc overruled President Mugabe on elections while at the same time saying Sadc asked the parties to produce a timeline for elections. The correct position is negotiators were asked to produce a timeline to the bundle of activities that they produced by first week of July so that the proposed timeline is ready for the August Summit of Sadc,'' he said.

A South African official said Tshwane wants to finalise the GPA issues before the August Summit where it will assume the chairmanship of the Troika because then it would be difficult to balance the roles of facilitator and Troika chair as it creates a conflict as SA will have to report to itself.

A source close to deliberations in the closed session revealed that Summit dwelled on three substantive points; the illegal economic sanctions, the Jomic report and the election roadmap.

‘‘Summit received and deliberated on a report on sanctions led by the Sadc Committee that was sent to Brussels, London and the US, which reported back to Summit on its findings and to the consternation of the Summit, they said the Americans told them that the Government was not speaking with one voice on sanctions as there was a section within Government - in apparent reference to MDC-T - which was saying keep the sanctions in place because the sanctions are our sole leverage against Zanu-PF,'' the source said.

Contrary to media reports that Troika would be seconding a team to Jomic, the diplomat said, the issue had not yet been finalized as the facilitator was still to furnish the three main political parties with the terms of reference.

‘‘The issue of Jomic was embraced in principle in Livingstone but Zanu-PF and the MDC (Ncube formation) insisted that lets look at the terms of reference and discuss those to find out exactly what is being meant by this proposal. So the terms of reference are awaited from the facilitator,'' he said.

Negotiators to the GPA revealed earlier this month that they had agreed on and endorsed minutes of the workshop they held on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Cape Town, which minutes formed the basis of the chairman's report to Summit.


Sadc rejects Livingstone doc

Sunday, 12 June 2011 23:06

From Caesar Zvayi in JOHANNESBURG, South Africa

THE Extraordinary Summit of Sadc Heads of State and Government ended here last night with the full summit rejecting the outcome of the controversial Livingstone Troika Summit that was fraught with procedural irregularities.

The three-member Troika is an organ of summit and reports to the full 14-member summit which can either endorse or reject the recommendations the Troika makes.

Since the Livingstone Troika Summit, the full Sadc Su-mmit had not convened to receive the report since Zimbabwe was deferred from the agenda of the extraordinary Summit held in Windhoek, Namibia, last month after President Mugabe said he did not want to ambush other principals who had not been invited to Windhoek since the summit was for Heads of State and/or Government per se.

Speaking to journalists after arrival at the Harare International Airport this morning, President Mugabe described the extraordinary summit's outcome as very good.

‘‘It came out very well. There was a very good report by the facilitator (President Jacob Zuma) where he acknowledged the efforts that the GPA is making, in other words what our negotiators and the principals put together are making and that there is progress now, that there is work going on to establish the roadmap, that the highlights of the roadmap have been marked that what remains now are the timelines,'' he said

Turning to the Livingstone Troika debacle, the President absolved his South African counterpart of any wrongdoing saying the President Zuma had presented a report of what transpired, but basing on the MDC-T document.

‘‘It turns out that his actual report is very innocent. It is more what was discussed based on the document yaTsvangirai, apparently, that emerged as the report ya facilitator otherwise the facilitator made a very innocent report. You will get it if you look for it,'' the President said.

Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi des-cribed the Sandton Summit outcome as very good.

‘‘The Summit went on very well, very, very well. Summit only noted the outcome of Livingstone, they did not endorse, Summit noted. And as you know in diplomatic parlance, you know what ‘noting' means? It was noted, it was not endorsed,'' he said.

The Livingstone Troika Report was one of two documents that were presented to summit. The other one being the Report on the Outcome of the Sadc Emissaries to the EU and US where they had been sent by the region to lobby for the lifting of the West's illegal economic sanctions regime.

The westerners are reported to have told the Sadc emissaries that there was no agreement on sanctions in Zimbabwe hence they would not lift the sanctions, and Summit was yesterday told that MDC-T was Nichodemously urging westerners to maintain the sanctions regime in flagrant violation of the GPA that says sanctions must go in their entirety.

‘‘Summit reiterated its position on the sanctions and called upon all the parties in Zimbabwe to unequivocally campaign for the lifting of sanctions. Summit also called on the parties to work on the elections roadmap.''

Sadc leaders first called for the lifting of the illegal economic sanctions regime at their extra-ordinary summit held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on March 31, 2007 and pledged to help Zimbabwe fight the illegal embargo. A team of emissaries was then set up at another extra-ordinary Summit held in Mbabane, Swaziland on March 31, 2009 where member states also pledged a rescue package to help Zimbabwe fight the debilitating sanctions.

Though Zanu-PF has been quite vocal about the need to lift the embargo culminating in the launch of the National Anti-Sanctions Petition Campaign in March this year, the MDC formations, particularly MDC-T, has been ambivalent posturing about sanctions by day, and asking that they be maintained by night.

The anti-Sanctions campaign has since surpassed expectations by amassing more than 2.2million signatures countrywide.

Minister Mumbengegwi said the issue of political violence and security sector reforms were not discussed as they were not part of the agenda.

‘‘No that (security sector reforms) never came up, and there is no reason why it should have come up because that is nonsense,'' Minister Mumbengegwi said.

Turning to the election roadmap agreed on by the three parties to the inclusive Government, Minister Mumbengegwi said Summit had called on all the parties to the inclusive Government to expedite the drawing of the roadmap and complete the constitution-making process so that elections can be held as soon as possible.

Zanu-PF has been insisting on elections saying some of its partners in Government were stalling the implementation of government programmes while the MDC formations have been calling for a postponement of polls claiming the environment was not conducive for the holding of free and fair elections.

‘‘No that never came up, and there is no reason why it should come up because that is nonsense,''


What Sadc leaders agreed on in SA

Monday, 13 June 2011 21:53

FULL text of the Extraordinary Summit of Sadc Heads of State and Government in Sandton, South Africa. 11-12 June 2011.

1. The Extraordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) was held at Sandton, Republic of South Africa on 11 and 12 June 2011.

2. The Summit was officially opened by His Excellency Hifikepunye Pohamba, President of the Republic of Namibia and Sadc Chairperson.

3. The Summit was attended by the following Heads of State and Government or their representatives:

Lesotho: Rt Hon Pakalitha Mosisili;
Malawi: H E Ngwazi Prof Bingu Wa Mutharika;
Mozambique: H E Armando Emilio Guebuza;
Namibia: H E Hifikepunye Pohamba;
South Africa: H E Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma;
Swaziland: H.M. King Mswati III;
Tanzania: H E Dr Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete;
Zimbabwe: H E Robert Gabriel Mugabe;
Botswana: H E Lt Gen Mompati Merafhe, Vice President;
Seychelles: H E Dr Danny Faure, Vice President;
Zambia: H E George Kunda, Vice President and Minister of Justice;
Angola: Hon Georges Rebelo Pinto Chikoti, Minister of External Relations;
DRC: Hon Raymond Tshibanda N'tungamulongo, Minister of Regional and International Cooperation;
Mauritius: Hon Dr Arvin Boolell, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade.

4. The Summit was also attended by Sadc Executive Secretary, Dr Tomaz A. Salomão.

5. In attendance of the Summit was also H E Joaquim A Chissano, former President of the Republic of Mozambique, and Sadc mediator on Madagascar.

6. Also in attendance at the Summit was the Right Hon Morgan Tsvangirai, Prime Minister of Zimbabwe and Hon Prof Welshman Ncube, representing MDC-T, MDC-N political parties, respectively.

7. Summit considered reports on the prevailing political and security situation in Madagascar and Zimbabwe.

8. On Madagascar

Summit noted the outcome of the meeting that took place on 6 and 7 June, 2011 in Gaborone, Republic of Botswana, convened by the Sadc Chairperson, H E Hifikepunye Pohamba, President of the Republic of Namibia and H E Rupiah Bwezani Banda, President of the Republic of Zambia and Chairperson of the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation, and H E Joaquim Chissano, former President of the Republic of Mozambique and the Sadc Mediator on the Madagascar crisis, as mandated by the Extraordinary Summit of Sadc Heads of State and Government at its meeting held in Windhoek, Republic of Namibia, 20 May, 2011.

9. Summit also noted that the Gaborone meeting was attended by eleven (11) political stakeholders from Madagascar, namely: AREMA; ESCOPOL; Les Autres Sensibilités; HPM; MDM; Mouvance Ratsiraka; Mouvance Ravalomanana; Mouvance Zafy; TGV; UAMAD/MONIMA and UDR-C.

10. Summit commended the Sadc Chairperson, the Chairperson of the Sadc Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation for convening the meeting with the Malagasy stakeholders.

11. Summit also commended the people and Government of the Republic of Botswana for hosting the meeting.

12. Summit noted that the return of that country to constitutional normalcy is a matter of urgency.

13. Summit also noted that eight out of eleven Malagasy political stakeholders have already initialled the roadmap that is intended to return the country to constitutional normalcy.

14. Summit endorsed the roadmap to bring Madagascar into constitutional normalcy presented by the Sadc Mediator on Madagascar after effecting necessary amendments.

15. Summit urged the leaders of the Mouvances Ratsiraka, Ravalomanana and Zafy to initial the roadmap expeditiously as soon as the necessary amendments are effected.

16. Summit also urged the High Transition Authority (HTA) to allow Malagasy people in exile for political reasons, to be allowed to return to the country unconditionally including Mr Marc Ravalomanana.

17. Summit further urged the HTA to urgently develop and enact all outstanding legal instruments to ensure the political freedom of all Malagasy in the inclusive process leading to free, fair, and credible elections.

18. Summit commended the Malagasy political stakeholders for their commitment to dialogue and finding an inclusive solution and urged them to remain focused on the implementation of the agreed roadmap in order to urgently fulfil the aspirations of the Malagasy people for peace, stability and socio-economic development.

19. Summit also commended H E Joachim Chissano, former President of Mozambique for his tireless efforts in bringing together the Malagasy stakeholders in the search of lasting solution for the current crisis in Madagascar.

20. Summit urged the Organ Troika to remain actively seized of the political situation in Madagascar.

21. On Zimbabwe, Summit noted the report of H E Jacob G Zuma, President of the Republic of South Africa and Sadc Facilitator on Zimbabwe, on the progress made in the implementation of the Global Political

Agreement (GPA) in Zimbabwe noting consultations held with the stakeholders in Zimbabwe on the implementation of the outstanding issues on the GPA.

22. Summit noted the decisions of the Organ Troika Summit held in Livingstone, Zambia in March 2011.

23. Summit mandated the Organ Troika to continue to assist Zimbabwe in the full implementation of the GPA.

24. Summit urged the Organ Troika to appoint their representatives as soon as possible to participate in the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (Jomic).

25. Summit mandated the Secretariat to mobilise resources for Jomic for it to discharge its functions.

26. Summit encouraged the parties to the GPA to move faster in the implementation of the GPA and create a conducive environment to the holding of elections that will be free and fair, under conditions of a level political field.

27. Summit commended H E Jacob G Zuma, President of the Republic of South Africa, and the facilitator for the Zimbabwe political dialogue for his efforts towards the full implementation of the Global Political Agreement.

28. Summit urged the Organ Troika to remain seized with the implementation of the Global Political Agreement in Zimbabwe.

29. Summit recalled its decision taken during the Extraordinary Summit in Windhoek, Namibia in August 2010, mandating the Chairperson of Sadc, the Chairperson of the Organ, Sadc facilitator for the Zimbabwe political dialogue assisted by the Secretariat to undertake the mission to the United Kingdom, United States of America and the European Union.

30. Summit received a report on the mission and noted its recommendations.

31. Summit committed to continue dialogue with the Western powers on the removal of sanction against Zimbabwe.

32. Summit expressed heartfelt condolences to the Government and the People of South Africa for the passing of Mrs Albertina Sisulu who was laid to rest on 11 June 2011.

33. The Summit expressed its appreciation to the Government and People of the Republic of South Africa for the warm hospitality extended to all delegates and facilities placed at their disposal that made this Summit a success.