SADC to turn Zimbabwe's NOT free and fair elections into "credible enough" - talk of double Dutch!

"So it's quite going to be a tough election to organise," Tanzania President Jakaya Kikwete told reporters late on Saturday after half-a-day of talks by the SADC organ on defence and security.

"We have committed to work with the people of Zimbabwe and see whatever we can do to make sure within the remaining 11 days, we can have an election that is going to be credible enough" he said. "I believe we will."

There is no free media and no freedom of expression; the media reforms that were meant to end Zanu PF’s control of country’s only public media and its monopoly were never implemented. The practical reality of having no free media is that the Zimbabwean electorates have been effectively denied the information about the candidates, the political parties, the country’s needs and each party offers to resolve the problems.

There is nothing SADC can do “within the remaining 11 days” to mitigate in any way the lack of free media and freedom of expression. And Zimbabweans are expected to have “credible enough” with a media totally controlled by Zanu PF.

There have been no meaningful reforms in the security sector, judiciary and all the other public institutions corrupted by the Zanu PF dictatorship over the last 33 years to enhance its struggle hold on power. There is absolutely nothing SADC can do “within the remaining 11 days” to mitigate the reality of a pro Zanu PF Police force, Army, etc. The country has just had first-hand experience of the consequences of a pro-Zanu PF ZEC.

ZEC was supposed to send out 90 000 ballot papers to 200 Polling Stations for voting over two days and they made a total dog’s breakfast of that. Many Polling Stations got no/wrong ballot papers, no/wrong voters’ rolls, no/inadequate indelible ink, etc., etc. In the end instead of two days of voting, a third day had to be added. And still only half of the 90 000 voters were able to cast their vote.

How is the same ZEC expected to send out 6 000 000 ballot papers to nearly 1000 Polling Stations and for all to vote in one day?

How many voters are going to be denied their right to vote because of ZEC’s failures? Worse still, how many votes will Zanu PF generate out of all this chaos.

The one thing that is undeniable is that the chaos resulting from the serious underfunding of ZEC is a calculated move by Zanu PF. It is equally undeniable that Zanu PF is taking full advantage its control of public institutions like ZEC to rig this election as it has done in the past.

The 2008 GPA called for the raft of democratic reforms including media, security sector and ZEC reform and SADC, as the guarantor, of the agreement subscribed to these reforms as the roadmap to free and fair elections. None of these reforms were implemented and the same SADC is coming up with a revised position. SADC is now telling the people of Zimbabwe they can still have elections which are “credible enough” without credible democratic reforms!

I am not a linguist but know double Dutch when I hear it. Zimbabwe’s 2013 elections are not going to be free and fair; Mugabe and Zanu PF have deliberately created a chaotic electoral situation and will take advantage of the mudded waters to cheat; it is nonsense that there is anything SADC can do to rescue the election. Elections that are not free and fair cannot be “credible enough”; that is double Dutch!