The Financial Gazette

Njabulo Ncube, Assistant Editor

ZIMBABWE’S civil society organisations have descended on Addis Ababa, Ethiopia ahead of the African Union (AU) summit scheduled to start at the weekend to lobby continental leaders to put pressure on the coalition government to adequately prepare for non-violent, free and fair elections. Although dates for new elections are yet to be promulgated, President Robert Mugabe has intimated he wants elections held this year with or without a new constitution, citing the acrimony in the coalition government he forged with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara.
President Mugabe, who two weeks ago met with his Equatorial Guinea counterpart, Theodora Obiang Nguema Mbasongo, in Harare ahead of the summit, has publicly stated that fresh polls would bring closure to the acrimonious coalition government he blames for the comatose state of the nation.
But while critics, including business leaders, have cautioned against polls in 2012, arguing that it would destabilise the recuperating economy, all eyes seem to be firmly focussed on elections this year.
Civil society organisations that made a beeline to Addis Ababa early this week, are adamant Zimbabwe is not yet ripe for elections, a topic on top of their agenda at the summit. As of yesterday, Zimbabwe was not on the agenda of the AU summit.
Several local civil society delegations, including one under the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition banner, are in Addis Ababa on an advocacy and lobby crusade.
The civil society delegations would be in the Ethiopian capital until Tuesday, as they seek to spotlight the Zimbabwean crisis, which has seen South African President Jacob Zuma, the AU and Southern African Development (SADC) sponsored mediator, failing to crack the stalemate for the past few years. Sources in the civil society in Zimbabwe revealed that today and tomorrow their representatives would participate in the meetings of the AU’s Peace and Security Council — the body charged with developing mechanisms to anticipate and prevent conflict — particularly conflicts arising from defective elections.
The civil society delegation under the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition — being led by the group’s spokesperson, Thabani Nyoni — is also charged with reaching out to the AU Political Affairs section for a briefing on the current political situation in Zimbabwe — with emphasis on Zimbabwe’s state of unpreparedness to hold non-violent, free and fair elections.
In addition, according to the same sources, the delegation plans to engage with several African Ambassadors based in Addis Ababa who constitute the Permanent Representatives Council.
A press conference to put on record Zimbabwe’s civil society’s opposition on Harare going for elections in the absence of critical reforms and without direct support from SADC and the AU is scheduled for tomorrow in the Ethiopian capital.
Concerted efforts are being made to meet SADC leaders attending the AU Summit to push them to immediately appoint SADC Troika representatives to work directly with the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee in monitoring the full implementation of the Global Political Agreeement (GPA) and critical electoral reforms, including constitutional reform.
Dewa Mavinga, the regional and information coordinator of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, told The Financial Gazette yesterday from Addis Abba that it was imperative for the continental leaders to be told again that Zimbabwe has not yet instituted sufficient reforms to guarantee democratic, non-violent, free and fair elections.
“The constitutional reform process is yet to be finalised while several critical legislative and electoral reforms remain outstanding,” said Mavinga.
“We therefore call on the AU, as a guarantor of the GPA and coalition government, to put on record its unwavering commitment to ensuring that Zimbabwe gets full support to deliver credible, democratic elections that meet the AU’s principles governing democratic elections in Africa,” added Mavinga.
Furthermore, civil society organisations want the AU to specifically pressure Zimbabwe to have an updated voters’ roll, a reformed Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), and the deployment of local and international observers at least six months before elections.
Independent forensic experts recently revealed that the present voters’ roll was in shambles as it included newly born babies, among other irregularities while Prime Minister Tsvangirai says ZEC is packed with state security agents linked to ZANU-PF.
The non-governmental organisations are also pushing that the AU, along with SADC and the United Nations, should deploy peace-keeping monitors to Zimbabwe at least six months ahead of elections to prevent state-sponsored violence, intimidation and to guarantee peaceful transfer of power to the eventual winner of the elections.
They want the same peace-keeping monitors to remain on the ground for a further three months after elections have been held.