Draft roadmap to Zimbabwe’s elections

By The NewsDay | Apr. 28, 2011 | 5 Min read

INTRODUCTION 1. At the SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government held in Windhoek on the 17th of August, 2010, it was resolved among, other things that the inclusive government and the political parties should “find an interrupted path to free and fair elections and the removal of all impediments to the same”. 2. […]

INTRODUCTION

1. At the SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government held in Windhoek on the 17th of August, 2010, it was resolved among, other things that the inclusive government and the political parties should “find an interrupted path to free and fair elections and the removal of all impediments to the same”.

2. Pursuant to this, the parties that were signatories to the Global Political Agreement assigned their negotiators to draw up a roadmap defining milestones and signposts that must be executed and implemented before the next election.

3. These milestones and signposts include the lifting of sanctions, the constitutional process, media reform, electoral reform, rule of law, freedom of association and assembly, legislative agenda and the actual election.

4. The party’s negotiators, comprising of Nicholas Goche and Patrick Chinamasa of Zanu PF, Priscilla Mushonga and Moses Mzila Ndlovu of MDC and Tendai Biti and Elton Mangoma of MDC met in Harare on the 4th 6th 7th 20th and 21st of April 2011 and crafted the roadmap as illustrated below.

5. Please note that those activities highlighted in bold and shaded represent areas of deadlock among the political parties.

6. For the purpose of this document, the MDC formation led by Dr M Tsvangirai will be referred to as the MDC T and that led by Prof W Ncube as MDC N.

Issue

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A. Sanctions

Activity

i. Lobby for the removal of sanctions ii. Re-engagement committee to be reactivated iii. Sadc to implement its numerous resolutions on Zimbabwean sanctions, in particular the resolution from the Sadc summit held in Windhoek in August 2010.

Action by:

i. Re-engagement Committee ii. Sadc

B. Constitution

Activity

i. Thematic Committees ii. Drafting iii. Second all-stakeholders conference iv. Parliament v. Referendum vi. Parliament vii. Presidential Assent

Action by:

i. Copac, ii. Political parties, iii. Stakeholders, iv. Parliament, v. Zec

C. Media reform

Activity

i. Appointment of new board of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation

ii. Appointment of a new Board for the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe

iii. Licensing of new broadcasters

iv. Appointment of new Trustees for the Mass Media Trust

v. Establish the Media Council of Zimbabwe

vi. Call upon the governments that are hosting and/or funding external radio stations broadcasting into Zimbabwe to cease such hosting and funding

vii. Encouraging Zimbabweans running or working for external radio stations broadcasting into Zimbabwe to return to Zimbabwe.

viii. Hate Speech

To direct the state media to support all agreed government programmes and put a stop to attacks against ministries implementing such programmes

Action by

i.Political parties; ii.Government, iii.Media Commission iv.Principals (defined to mean, wherever it appears in this document, the president of Political Parties) v. Government

D. Electoral reforms

Activity

i. Enactment of agreed electoral amendments ii. Voter education iii. Mobilization for voter registration iv. Preparation of new voters roll v. Inspection of voters roll vi. The staffing of Zec

a. The staff of Zec to be recruited afresh by the new Commission (MDC-T)

b. Ensure non partisanship and transparency in the recruitment of Zec Staff (MDC-N)

c. There should be no changes of Zec Staff Deterioration of the suitability is the responsibility of the Commission (Zanu PF)

Timeframe

Immediate Action by

i. Principals ii. Zec iii. Registrar General. iv. Political parties, v. Stakeholders vi. Citizens vii. Parliament viii. The media

E. Rule of Law

Activity

i. Consistent with the Principal’s agreement of 8th June 2010, there is a reaffirmation by all the parties to their commitment under articles 11 and 13 of the GPA. There will be meetings of the Principals with the Attorney General, Commissioner General of the Police, Heads of the other security and intelligence institutions to ensure full commitment to operate in a non-partisan manner consistent with the GPA

ii. Public Statement

a. Instruct the security forces to issue a public statement that they will unequivocally uphold the Constitution and respect the rule of law in the lead up to and following any election or referendum (MDC formations)

b. This is not an election matter. Political parties have no right to direct uniformed forces to ensure political statements (Zanu PF)

iii. Violence

a. End military and police abuse of the rule of law and end all state sponsored/sanctioned violence (MDC formations)

b. We have no knowledge of abuse and state sponsored/sanctioned violence and we invite such evidence to be made available (Zanu PF)

iv. Deployment

a. Demilitarisation soldiers and other security personnel have been unlawfully deployed in the country and should thus be sent back to the barrack (MDC-T)

b. Redeployment of military personnel to barracks (MDC-N)

c. We deny that there are serving members of the military doing political work and we invite evidence to be made available. We protest to the use of the word “demilitarization”. It is a war term that is not applicable even in the circumstances as alleged by the MDC formations (Zanu PF).

v. The Intelligence

a. Enact an Act of Parliament regulating the operations of the CIO (MDC-T).

b. This is an election issue as referred to and covered under article xiii (i) of the GPA which reads as follows “state organs and institutions do not belong to any political party and should be impartial in their duties” (MDC-N)

c. . This issue is neither a GPA one or an election issue and is being raised as an attack on the institution. The issue falls to be resolved in the Constitution-making process (Zanu PF).

vi. Put in place or enhance the mechanism and framework to ensure accountability of the Police Commission and the Police Service Commission and compliance with Article XIII (1) of the GPA. F. Freedom of association and freedom assembly Activity

i) a) Meeting of the Principals with the Commissioner General of Police

b) Meeting of negotiators with the Commissioner General of Police

ii) POSA

a) Amend POSA so as to tighten it against discretion and abuse and to bring it in line with commitments within the GPA and the Constitution (MDC-T).

b) Review POSA in light of the current abuse by the Police (MDC-N).

c) We need to know the nature of the proposed amendments before we comment. The current POSA was amended in 2007 by all political parties through negotiation and provides a sound legal framework for regulating meetings and assemblies (Zanu PF).

Action by

i) Political Parties

G. Legislative agenda and commitments Activity

i) Realign Zimbabwe’s laws with the new Constitution and also address transitional arrangements

ii) Enact the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission Bill.

iii) Amend Section 121 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act to confine the same to specific prescribed offenses.

iv) Enact agreed amendments to the Electoral Act.

v) Appoint the Zimbabwe Anti-corruption commission.

Action by

i) Parliament ii) Principals iii) Negotiators.

H. Actual election

Activity

i) Delimitation of constituencies ii) Presidential proclamation in consultation with the Prime Minister. iii) Nomination of candidates iv) Printing of ballot papers v) Polling vi) Announcement of election results vii) Activation of liaison committees particularly at local level viii) Monitors

a) Presence of SADC and other African monitors 6 months prior to and 6 months after the elections (MDC-T)

b) Implement SADC Organ Troika’s Resolutions made in Livingstone on the 31st of March 2011 in respect of which three SADC appointed officers are to be deployed in Zimbabwe to work with Jomic (MDC-N)

c) Observation of elections must only be in accordance with the agreed amendments to the Electoral Act (Zanu PF)