Dr Tsvangirai's briefing with the SADC Observer Mission

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has urged SADC to consider convening a full SADC Summit after the holding of the referendum to focus on Zimbabwe and help to cement a roadmap to free, fair and credible elections.

The Prime Minister on Friday held an hour-long briefing with the SADC Observer Mission in the country to observe the conduct of the constitutional referendum.

He said SADC, as the Guarantor of the GPA, should use a full Summit to assess whether Zimbabwe was ready for free, fair and credible elections based on a checklist on agreed positions. The Summit could use its past Resolutions as a yardstick to measure compliance with the Bloc's standards for the conduct of free and fair elections as there seems to be no political will from Zanu PF to fully implement the GPA.

The Prime Minister highlighted the following key issues to the Observer Mission;

The referendum
The Prime Minister appreciated the SADC Observer Mission for coming to Zimbabwe and thanked SADC for the regional Bloc's tutelage of the Global Political Agreement.

The Prime Minister highlighted that the holding of the referendum was in line with the reform process espoused by SADC, being a part of the requirements for resolving the Zimbabwean crisis.

The Premier told the delegation that five objectives were set out at the formation of the Inclusive Government, which included; constitutional reform, restoration of peace, macro-economic stability, intervention in the social sector and implementation of key reforms before the conduct of a referendum and subsequently elections.

Some of the key reforms include security sector re-alignment and media reforms, areas which were still outstanding as there has not been movement towards realignment.
He said that it would be tragic to go for elections without key reforms.

The deployment of senior military personnel in provinces
The Prime Minister expressed concern at the deployment of senior military officers ahead of the referendum and elections. He said the actions by security personnel showed a lack of paradigm shift despite years of existence of the Inclusive Government.

The Premier said the deployment of senior military officers who have in the past publicly threatened to subvert civilian rule was worrying in that it posed a serious threat on the security of the people and security of the vote. He said these were worrying warning signs which posed a serious threat on the credibility of the elections.

Resurgence of violence
The Premier said the other area of difficulty was the resurgence of violence, citing the murder of Christpowers Maisiri in Headlands, the attack on MDC activists and BBC reporters in Mbare on Friday as tell-tell signs of impunity during political contestation.

Selective application of the law
The Prime Minister highlighted the partisan nature of the police and the Attorney General's office in handling political cases. He told the delegation about the Glen View 31, some of whom are still in remand prison, more than year after being linked to the murder of a police officer in Glen View.

The Prime Minister highlighted the use of draconian legislation such as POSA and AIPPA and unilateral decisions to harass civil society leaders.

The partisan police force
Dr Tsvangirai said the Principals shall convene a meeting with Co-Home Affairs Ministers and the Commissioner General of Police to ensure the return to professionalism within the service.

Voter registration
Prime Minister Tsvangirai highlighted the challenges regarding the voter registration process. He said a month-long blitz to ensure voter registration will be carried out.

The Prime Minister said he was worried by the tactics being used by the Registrar General's office to disenfranchise first time voters and those people who were previously classified as aliens. The RG's office was demanding several documents which were not normally required for one to register to aliens. In some instances hoards of soldiers were being bussed to registration centres to disturb the registrations.

Troika presence in JOMIC
The Premier called for the SADC Troika representatives to urgently start working with JOMIC, adding that the monitoring body will now be required to present detailed reports to Cabinet.

The PM said he hoped that both the referendum and the elections would be held in a peaceful manner, but expressed concern on the recurrence of violence and intimidation by security forces.

The observers called for full implementation of all agreed issues in the GPA.