Forthcoming elections in Zimbabwe should be peaceful and transparent, European Council president Herman van Rompuy said in Pretoria on Thursday.
“The EU will respond to the outcome of the elections (set for July 31) on the basis of all the evidence of peaceful, transparent elections with results accepted by all. We look forward to a full normalization of relations and a deepening of our partnership with Zimbabwe,” he said. That is wishful thinking!
SADC is planning to hold yet another summit meeting to discuss the Zimbabwe’s election.
“We
are concerned because things on the ground are not looking good,” Lindiwe Zulu
told Reuters
The truth it was naïve to believe Mugabe would hold free and fair elections without implementing the reforms and with the feeble Copac constitution instead of a democratic constitution.
A year ago when the GNU released the rubbish Copac constitution; it was crystal clear the Zanu PF dictatorship was not going to be dismantled. The EU, SADC and everyone should have just put their foot down and demanded the implementation of meaningful reforms and the writing of a democratic constitution and completely ignore the nonsensical claims by Tsvangirai that Copac would deliver free and fair elections.
It is
hard to see what SADC can do now other than declare that they have seen enough
of this charade and clean the deck. There is a mountain of evidence already proving
beyond doubt that this is NOT a free and fair election and other than going
back to implementing the reforms there is little else that can be done to
rescue the process.
5 comments:
It was naïve of Tsvangirai and MDC to believe Zimbabwe could have free and fair elections of the basis of the feeble Copac constitution and no reforms. It was very naïve of the people to believe Tsvangirai's lies and approve the Copac rubbish in the referendum.
It is correct to say that no SADC leaders were ever believed Tsvangirai's nonsensical claims be-cause SADC issued a statement accusing Tsvangirai and company of "forgetting" to carry out the necessary changes for free and fair elections. SaDC should have gone beyond issuing the statement and demanded that the necessary changes must be implemented.
It is now clear these elections are not free and fair and therefore will never produce a govern-ment that will be responsive to the nation's cries for an end to corruption, looting and political repression. The political and economic consequences of such a regime are unthinkable for the people of Zimbabwe and the region as a whole. If SADC and AU allow Mugabe to get away with stealing yet another election then they would have set a dangerous precedence; many oth-er tyrants would seek to do the same.
It was not going to be easy for SADC to force Mugabe to implement the reforms particularly when Tsvangirai and MDC's attitude was to do nothing. If we put the level of difficult to get the reform implemented a year ago at "y", then it has increased a hundred fold to "100xy" today.
Getting Mugabe to accept the cancellation of elections is not going to be easy.
If the elections go ahead and Mugabe and Zanu PF win; it is hard to see how they could failed to do given they have every opportunity they could have ever wished for to rig the elections; it will be just as difficult to get Mugabe to give up power then. Increase the level difficult by another hundred thousand fold; "100 000x100xy"!
SADC must grab the nettle now and cancel this fraudulent electoral process because this is something the body must do, should have done years ago and passage of time has make the task that much more difficult and yet even more necessary!
@Vanhuvakuru
You problem is that you do not have common sense. In 2008 Mugabe used violence to "win" and so you think just because there has not been any violence, at least not to the same level as 2008, then the elections must be free and fair. It is not only violence that determines whether an election is free and fair.
This time Mugabe is going to "manufacture" votes for himself and deny the vote to many and secure a first round victory for himself!
If you can ensure those who do not vote for you do not have a vote or that their vote will not count; then clearly one does not have to beat or rape such voters.
Mugabe has so many other ways of "manufacturing" votes for himself. The special vote, for ex-ample, has shown that ZEC does not have the foggiest idea how many ballots were printed, what happened to the ballot papers it issued, when ballot papers disappear how to trace them, etc.
Tendai Biti says Mudede has four different voters rolls; the sky is the limit to the mischief one can do with that!
In March this year many people welcomed the Copac constitution with the greatest enthusiasm convinced it would bring free and fair elections. They were being naïve, of course, because it was clear that Copac was a weak and feeble document.
These people should have learnt but they did not because they still believe that even the Zanu PF dictatorship untouched, the nation can still have free and fair elections! How naïve!
@ Mike
Yes people do not want another GNU but if the election continue then Mugabe will steal the election. Is that what you want?
@ Mafirakureva
Well since it is the opposition who failed to get the reforms implemented because of their own incompetence; they really did not have a choice but take part in the elections without reforms. It is nonsense to say any meaningful reforms could have been implemented by delaying the elections by two weeks.
Tsvangirai and his MDC friends do not really care that the elections are not free and fair as long as they get back on the gravy train.
The big losers here are the ordinary people who will continue to suffer under this autocracy which can only removed if there are free and fair elections.
@ Vanhuvakuru
Free and fair elections are a key requirement and there is enough evidence already that this election is not going to be free and fair. Elections should not have been allowed to go ahead without reforms, period.
We are where we are; we have allowed a fraudulent process to go ahead and now it is clear that it is a waste of time with no redeeming features. None! We must stop the process now because let it proceed is only giving Mugabe and his thugs the confidence that this is a legitimate process!
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