Biti rules out elections this year

Finance Minister, Tendai Biti, has ruled out holding elections this year. Biti told SABC the country's cash strapped treasury cannot afford to finance a poll in 2012.

President Robert Mugabe has repeatedly called for polls in 2012, almost a year ahead of schedule despite SADC's insistence on reforms first.

Mugabe has repeatedly said the money will have to be found for the polls arguing that a rocky coalition with rivals MDC will not go beyond 2012.



Biti said the country is already battling to contain a deficit caused mainly by under performing diamond revenue.

He told journalists that the country has set aside $40 million for a referendum and a census this year.

Biti says, "We had provided money for the constitutional referendum. We are also going to have another election in the form of a census so we are going to have two elections. We cannot afford a third election, we have not budgeted for a third election."

A constitutional referendum expected to take place by year end, must precede any election.

According to a SADC brokered deal, a constitutional referendum expected to take place by year end, must precede any election.

Meanwhile, South Africa has expressed concern over the slow pace of the implementation of some crucial governance and constitutional reforms in Zimbabwe, to pave the way for the staging of free and fair elections.

Disagreements between the ruling Zanu-PF and two factions of the opposition MDC over the drafting and adoption of the new constitution and the implementation of security and political reforms have hindered progress at the mediation talks led by South Africa.

Mugabe's Zanu-PF claims the situation in the country has fulfilled the minimum conditions that make it possible to the elections. However, President Zuma's International Relations Advisor Ambassador Lindiwe Zulu disagrees.

"Well the facilitator is also worried about the deliverables because at the end of the day there is the Global Political Agreement on the table which the three parties signed and agreed to an implementation and then also with regard to the roadmap to elections, it also has been very slow in completing it. That is why the negotiators have agreed that they will escalate this to the principals because in their opinion these remain political issues that can be dealt with by the principals together with the facilitator," says Zulu.

Ambassador Zulu has in the meantime cautiously welcomed progress made in the drafting of the new dual-power constitution.

"We have been a little bit confortable in the past few months because we've seen a lot of progress in as far as the Constitution making process is concerned. We know that the Constitution will also have to go to the referendum and all the things that we are putting on the table here are not an imagination or a creation of South Africa. These are issues which are contained in the Global Political Agreement and in the roadmap to elections," concluded Zulu.