South African President Jacob Zuma’s facilitation team is heading to Zimbabwe to assess progress made in the implementation of the GPA and the country’s readiness for elections, spokesperson of the facilitation team Lindiwe Zulu said yesterday.
But Zulu, who, however, could not give the exact date of their arrival, said they were coming without the three-man Sadc team, mandated by Sadc Heads of State to work with Jomic because of political changes in the region.
“Zambia had made an appointment, but there has been a change of government and we are not sure whether President (Michael) Sata would want to keep the same person. The troika itself has changed with Angola being replaced by Tanzania, so now the other person will have to come from Tanzania,” she said.
The visit will pave way for a meeting between Zuma, the Sadc- appointed mediator in the Zimbabwe crisis, and inclusive government principals on a later day.
“We will be coming to Zimbabwe as soon as all the negotiators are available and that will be soon. Some of the negotiators have been travelling out of the country, but once they are all available, we will come, so that we make a follow-up on the election roadmap because there are still issues to discuss,” said Zulu.
“We want to follow up on the progress since Angola (Sadc summit) and we will also be meeting institutions like Jomic, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and Copac to see what progress they have made.
“These institutions have a critical role in elections, because the roadmap has to be supported by their work.”
Zulu said although the facilitation team could not determine when elections would be held, the date depended on the creation of an environment suitable for polls as was indicated by Sadc.
