SADC Troika Commends Zimbabwe

Republic of South Africa President Jacob Zuma with Republic of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe at their meeting in Harare on August 15, 2012. The two leaders discussed the Global Political Agreement., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Sadc Troika commends Zim

Wednesday, 15 May 2013 00:00
Hebert Zharare Political Editor
Zimbabwe Herald

THE Sadc Troika has hailed Zimbabwe for successfully holding a referendum in a peaceful, free and fair environment in March and expressed hope the same would obtain ahead of harmonised elections expected on or before the expiry of the Seventh Parliament at midnight on June 29.

This flew in the face of MDC-T’s bid to have the region compel President Mugabe to postpone elections, which are constitutionally due end of June.

Contrary to reports in some sections of the media that the Troika talked tough on Zimbabwe, the meeting held on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on Africa 2013 in Cape Town, South Africa, was cordial and Zimbabwe was commended for ensuring peace.

The Troika members — South African President Jacob Zuma, who is also the facilitator to the Global Political Agreement, Troika chairperson and Republic of Tanzania leader Mr Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete and Namibian Foreign Minister Mr Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, who was standing in for

President Hifikepunye Pohamba — took the opportunity presented by the World Economic Forum to meet in Cape Town last Friday.

The Troika then produced a communiqué with a position Zanu-PF national spokesperson Cde Rugare Gumbo said contained a diplomatic message the MDC-T was failing to understand.

The communiqué reads:
“Summit commended His Excellency Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma, President of the Republic of South Africa and the Sadc facilitator on Zimbabwe political dialogue, for his efforts towards the full implementation of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) in Zimbabwe.

“Summit also commended the people of Zimbabwe for holding a credible, free and fair constitutional referendum on 16 March 2013.
“Summit urged the parties to finalise the outstanding issues in the implementation of the GPA and preparations for holding free and fair elections in Zimbabwe.”

Although the MDC-T claimed the meeting was called to discuss Zimbabwe, it emerged that the regional leaders were more concerned with crises in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Madagascar.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s spokesperson, Mr Luke Tamborinyoka, however, claimed the Troika meeting was a result of his boss’s recent “diplomatic offensive” in the continent.

Mr Tamborinyoka said the Troika was concerned with the inclusive Government’s failure to deal with outstanding GPA issues.
“The Troika is saying exactly what we have been saying. There are so many outstanding GPA issues, one of them is the realignment of the security sector.

They should be professional and should not take sides.

“The other issue is the media reforms. The public media is aligned to one political party and has shown bias in its reportage. The public media refuses to accept the PM’s campaign messages,” he said.

However, Cde Gumbo said Zanu-PF was behind Sadc and the communiqué passed with just three statements on Zimbabwe was an indication that they were refusing to be used to drive the MDC-T agenda.

“We support what Sadc said about the country, unfortunately our political opponents do not understand the diplomatic language that is being communicated by the region to them.

“They thought the Troika meeting was going to come up with a damming report on Zimbabwe condemning Zanu-PF. We are happy that Sadc is now understanding the Zimbabwean situation. They are aware of the highest success the country has just scored in the past two months, the successful holding of the referendum and the sailing through of Constitutional Amendment Bill (20) through the House of Assembly and Senate and soon we will have our home-grown constitution. Why should Sadc bother itself with an area with such huge progress?” he said.

Zanu-PF argues that the outstanding issues that need urgent address are the continued existence of the illegal economic sanctions on Zimbabwe and the pirate radio stations that broadcast hate messages into Zimbabwe from Western capitals.

The MDC-T leader drew fire from his MDC counterparts who described the tour as “silly and embarrassing’’ while the NCA queried why Mr Tsvangirai was demanding reforms now when he had spent the past four years in the inclusive Government.

The MDC-T leader was snubbed in Angola where he ended up meeting low-level government officials.

Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba and his premier Hage Geingob followed suit, forcing him to take his road show outside Sadc to Central and East Africa.