ZIMBABWE’S vocal civil society which shadowed the just-ended African Union Summit held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, returned empty handed from its mission early this week.
Despite lobbying high profile delegates and the media to spotlight the Zimbabwe crisis, the civil society leaders nonetheless failed to engage any of the continental leaders who attended the summit, effectively jeopardising their mission.
The Zimbabwe crisis never featured on the agenda although there were concerted efforts by the civil society leaders to smuggle it into the AU’s agenda. Representatives of the civil society had descended on the Ethi-opian capital last week to lobby African leaders to pressure the coalition government to adequately prepare for non-violent, free and fair elections.
Although dates for new elections are yet to be promulgated, Presi-dent 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.
Dewa Mavhinga, the regional coordinator of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, however, hailed the delegation’s sojourn as a resounding success, saying the team managed to drive the point that Zimbabwe was still not ready for fresh elections due to lack of requisite electoral and other legislative reforms.
He said it would be naïve to say because the delegation failed to have audience with a single African leader or Head of State, the mission to AU flawed. “Indeed we did not meet any President or Head of State but we managed to secure a meeting in two weeks time with President (Michael) Sata’s Foreign Affairs Minister scheduled for Lusaka,” said Mavhinga.
The meeting with the Zambian Foreign Affairs Minister comes barely two weeks after Sata labelled Prime Minister Tsvangirai, who is close to civil the society organisations, a “stooge” of the West.
The Zambian engagement is seen as part of efforts by the civil society to help the premier build bridges with the new Zambian leader who has not hidden his support for President Mugabe.
Mavhinga added: “Overall, the AU summit yielded good results for us in that, through meetings with technical staff at the Political Affairs Department and the Peace and Security Council, and meetings with several ambassadors in the AU’s Permanent Representa-tives Council, we managed to remind the AU leadership that Zimb-abwe has not instituted any meaning electoral reforms and that it should be pressured to reform before elections.
“We urged the AU to stand with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in dismissing misplaced calls for early elections in the absence of credible reforms.
“We further urged the AU to send missions to Zimbabwe, including the Panel of the Wise, to assess electoral conditions on the ground.
“We urged the AU to support SADC in deploying peace monitors to prevent state sponsored violence.”
South African President Jacob Zuma, the SADC appointed mediator in the Zimbabwe crisis, has spoken against holding elections before the full implementation of the Global Political Agreement signed by the three principals in 2008.
Comments (6)
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written by choga, February 09, 2012
written by choga, February 09, 2012
who had invited them? gate crushers hey. tibvireipo. who do they represent? chaos???
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written by Marketing, February 06, 2012
written by Marketing, February 06, 2012
Check the personal bank accounts and lifestyles of the people who claim to be civil society organisations leaders and see the extent to which these merchants of confusion and violence have ama*sed wealth and 'prominence' since the political and economic challenges arose in Zimbabwe.
These people are clueless but execellent at talking nonsense especially before cameras and western scribes.They do anything to please their funders.African leaders have now seen through the stupid lies of the so-called civic society organisations leaders.
Dewa Mavhinga string of failures at international fora coupled with the serious allegations he makes as if with the mandate of ordinary Zimbabweans pose a worrisome threat to the development of democracy in Zimbabwe in particular and Southern Africa in general.He does m*re harm than good to PM Tsvangirai's standing.
These people are clueless but execellent at talking nonsense especially before cameras and western scribes.They do anything to please their funders.African leaders have now seen through the stupid lies of the so-called civic society organisations leaders.
Dewa Mavhinga string of failures at international fora coupled with the serious allegations he makes as if with the mandate of ordinary Zimbabweans pose a worrisome threat to the development of democracy in Zimbabwe in particular and Southern Africa in general.He does m*re harm than good to PM Tsvangirai's standing.
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written by Marketing, February 06, 2012
written by Marketing, February 06, 2012
Check the personal bank accounts and lifestyles of the people who claim to be civil society organisations leaders and see the extent to which these merchants of confusion and violence have ama*sed wealth and 'prominence' since the political and economic challenges arose in Zimbabwe.
These people are clueless but execellent at talking nonsense especially before cameras and western scribes.They do anything to please their funders.African leaders have now seen through the stupid lies of the so-called civic society organisations leaders.
Dewa Mavhinga string of failures at international fora coupled with the serious allegations he makes as if with the mandate of ordinary Zimbabweans pose a worrisome threat to the development of democracy in Zimbabwe in particular and Southern Africa in general.He does m*re harm than good to PM Tsvangirai's standing.
These people are clueless but execellent at talking nonsense especially before cameras and western scribes.They do anything to please their funders.African leaders have now seen through the stupid lies of the so-called civic society organisations leaders.
Dewa Mavhinga string of failures at international fora coupled with the serious allegations he makes as if with the mandate of ordinary Zimbabweans pose a worrisome threat to the development of democracy in Zimbabwe in particular and Southern Africa in general.He does m*re harm than good to PM Tsvangirai's standing.
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