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Dr Tsvangirai urges SADC to convene special Zimbabwe summit
16 Mar 2013 at 15:22hrs | Views
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has urged SADC to convene a special summit on Zimbabwe to help cement a roadmap to free, fair and credible elections, according to a statement.
Tsvangirai told a SADC Observer Mission in the country to observe the conduct of the constitutional referendum that "SADC, as the guarantor of the GPA [Global Political Agreement], should use a full summit to assess whether Zimbabwe was ready for free, fair and credible elections based on a checklist on agreed positions".
"SADC and AU as the guarantors of this agreement must ensure full compliance and implementation of this constitution once the people endorse it," the MDC-T leader said in a statement ahead of the referendum.
"This is important because in the past four years we have realised we can agree on many key issues but fall dismally short on implementation. This constitution must be respected and implemented to the spirit and letter."
Zimbabweans are voting on a new constitution that would pave the way for crucial elections.
Voters are expected to roundly back the text, which would introduce presidential term limits, beef up parliament's powers and set elections to decide whether 89-year-old President Robert Mugabe stays in power.
Mugabe has ruled uninterrupted since the country's independence in 1980, despite a series of disputed and violent polls and a severe economic crash propelled by hyper-inflation.
Tsvangirai told a SADC Observer Mission in the country to observe the conduct of the constitutional referendum that "SADC, as the guarantor of the GPA [Global Political Agreement], should use a full summit to assess whether Zimbabwe was ready for free, fair and credible elections based on a checklist on agreed positions".
"SADC and AU as the guarantors of this agreement must ensure full compliance and implementation of this constitution once the people endorse it," the MDC-T leader said in a statement ahead of the referendum.
"This is important because in the past four years we have realised we can agree on many key issues but fall dismally short on implementation. This constitution must be respected and implemented to the spirit and letter."
Zimbabweans are voting on a new constitution that would pave the way for crucial elections.
Voters are expected to roundly back the text, which would introduce presidential term limits, beef up parliament's powers and set elections to decide whether 89-year-old President Robert Mugabe stays in power.
Mugabe has ruled uninterrupted since the country's independence in 1980, despite a series of disputed and violent polls and a severe economic crash propelled by hyper-inflation.
Source - news24
