SADC passes the Zimbabwe impasse back to Tsvangirai - he better not disappoint!

"In terms of the problems leading to the referendum, they (Tsvangirai and Mugabe) are almost in the process of reaching an agreement in terms of the date of elections and I believe that what we have to do is to encourage them to finally come out with a common date on the referendum and election,” said SADC secretary at the end of the SADC meeting in Luanda.

Everyone was hoping against hope that SADC will for once come up with the goods. Tsvangirai and Mugabe have already said they can not agree on the necessary democratic reforms and election date. God knows they would have agreed by now if there had the political will; this circus has been going on since the sham presidential run-off of June 2008.

Well SADC have thrown the ball straight back for Tsvangirai and Mugabe to deal with. Of course, between the two it is what Mugabe wants that counts. And want the dictator want is for fresh elections to be held this year without any meaningful democratic reforms being carried out; period. In short Mugabe wants a rerun of the sham June 2008 elections in which political violence will be a certainty.

Tsvangirai has made some shockingly stupid decision in his political career but even he knows holding election without meaningful democratic reforms is to commit mass political suicidal for him and his party, MDC.

It is Tsvangirai who had placed all his hopes on SADC forcing Mugabe to agree on democratic reforms, etc at this SADC meeting. Every time Tsvangirai has hit a brick wall in his dealings with Mugabe he has gone running to SADC “as the guarantor of the GPA!” And again and again SADC has done nothing to force Mugabe to honour his part in the GPA.

How many times did people tell Tsvangirai the GPA was unworkable because it gave Mugabe all his old dictatorial powers? How many times was Tsvangirai told that the SADC guarantee of the GPA was not worth the paper it was written on? Countless times and Tsvangirai would not listen. He even claimed the agreement was “working”! Well Tsvangirai must now step up to the mark and stop passing the buck!
Mr Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, you knew that bringing democratic change in Zimbabwe was the nation’s top priority. You obvious believed YOU – not President Zuma, SADC or anyone else – would still deliver that change in the context of the GPA or you would not have signed the power sharing agreement. Some people have said all you cared about is the fancy title. Well this is you chance to prove these people wrong! You dare not disappoint us this time!