Opinion / Columnist
SADC Summit Friday: The guilty are always afraid
29 May 2012 at 14:38hrs | Views
You know you do not have a just cause or a good case when your struggle is all about keeping your case away from scrutiny and away from the courts of justice.
Your lawyers will always be trying to have the case postponed to another date, then eventually he apply for a dismissal on the grounds that the case has gone on for too long, some facts are lost, or some witnesses cannot be found.
This is what Zanu-PF has now become â€" a fugitive from justice. Every time before an SADC or AU Summit everybody else will be saying Zimbabwe is on the agenda while the Zanu-PF delegation will be arguing that it not on the agenda, and giving some technical reason why it should not be.
It is the same again this time for Friday's meeting. The Secretary General of SADC Tomas Salomao - the very person who responsible for the agenda was quoted saying that Zimbabwe is not specifically on the agenda, but it may be discussed.
One would have thought that was the end of the story, but the Herald had to go and drag the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Joey Bimha, complete with his picture to come and make a categorical statement to the effect that Zimbabwe is not on the agenda of the SADC Summit in Luanda on Friday and therefore will not be discussed.
A normal reader would ask, what are they afraid of? Or does The Herald have a particular interest in this matter? What is it that they do not want to be discussed?
The answers are right there on the front pages of the newspapers:
Their activists have slaughtered another MDC activist in Mudzi â€" something that could not be staged by the MDC even if it wanted to.
Their attempts to delay the constitution have been exposed with the submission and withdrawal of their 29-page document which says among other things uniformed soldiers should be allowed to take part in politics.
Their blocking of the SADC deployment of a three-man monitoring team to JOMIC has run its course â€" this is a resolution that has already been made and the Summit can rightly ask why it is not being implemented.
The same applies to resolutions of media freedom, creating an environment for free and fair elections, reforms of electoral institutions, etc. The heads of states should be able to ask how far this has gone.
This explains why Zanu-PF wants a categorical position that Zimbabwe is not going to be discussed.
The other thing they do not want is the presence of the MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai anywhere near the Summit. As an interested party he would be well within his right to go to Luanda to see what the Heads of States are doing.
Or even to ask them what think they are doing, sitting on his case for so long.
So now the mantra, again from The Herald, is, why does Tsvangirai want to attend the summit? He is not a head of state!
What would be wrong with making himself available at the Summit venue in case the Heads of State do discuss Zimbabwe and would like his input?
Indeed what would be wrong with having Zimbabwe in a full-fledged discussion by heads of states â€" after all they have resolutions from their three previous summits which have still to be implemented. What would be wrong with asking Mugabe what the problem is with implementation and asking Tsvangirai whether he agrees.
At the very least Zanu-PF and MDC's so called disagreements on the constitution should be brought out in the open for the wise heads of states to scrutinise and possibly advise, if not make a ruling.
We are urging President Jacob Zuma to bring this issue to the right forum before more people have died and while his facilitation team still remembers what the issues are.
As for us, we will be demonstrating again on June 21st, demanding more action from the SADC leaders.
Our Struggle Continues Until We have Democracy in Zimbabwe
---------------------
Den Moyo â€" Chairman MDC USA, chairman 21st Free Zimbabwe Global Movement
Your lawyers will always be trying to have the case postponed to another date, then eventually he apply for a dismissal on the grounds that the case has gone on for too long, some facts are lost, or some witnesses cannot be found.
This is what Zanu-PF has now become â€" a fugitive from justice. Every time before an SADC or AU Summit everybody else will be saying Zimbabwe is on the agenda while the Zanu-PF delegation will be arguing that it not on the agenda, and giving some technical reason why it should not be.
It is the same again this time for Friday's meeting. The Secretary General of SADC Tomas Salomao - the very person who responsible for the agenda was quoted saying that Zimbabwe is not specifically on the agenda, but it may be discussed.
One would have thought that was the end of the story, but the Herald had to go and drag the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Joey Bimha, complete with his picture to come and make a categorical statement to the effect that Zimbabwe is not on the agenda of the SADC Summit in Luanda on Friday and therefore will not be discussed.
A normal reader would ask, what are they afraid of? Or does The Herald have a particular interest in this matter? What is it that they do not want to be discussed?
The answers are right there on the front pages of the newspapers:
Their activists have slaughtered another MDC activist in Mudzi â€" something that could not be staged by the MDC even if it wanted to.
Their attempts to delay the constitution have been exposed with the submission and withdrawal of their 29-page document which says among other things uniformed soldiers should be allowed to take part in politics.
Their blocking of the SADC deployment of a three-man monitoring team to JOMIC has run its course â€" this is a resolution that has already been made and the Summit can rightly ask why it is not being implemented.
The same applies to resolutions of media freedom, creating an environment for free and fair elections, reforms of electoral institutions, etc. The heads of states should be able to ask how far this has gone.
This explains why Zanu-PF wants a categorical position that Zimbabwe is not going to be discussed.
The other thing they do not want is the presence of the MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai anywhere near the Summit. As an interested party he would be well within his right to go to Luanda to see what the Heads of States are doing.
Or even to ask them what think they are doing, sitting on his case for so long.
So now the mantra, again from The Herald, is, why does Tsvangirai want to attend the summit? He is not a head of state!
What would be wrong with making himself available at the Summit venue in case the Heads of State do discuss Zimbabwe and would like his input?
Indeed what would be wrong with having Zimbabwe in a full-fledged discussion by heads of states â€" after all they have resolutions from their three previous summits which have still to be implemented. What would be wrong with asking Mugabe what the problem is with implementation and asking Tsvangirai whether he agrees.
At the very least Zanu-PF and MDC's so called disagreements on the constitution should be brought out in the open for the wise heads of states to scrutinise and possibly advise, if not make a ruling.
We are urging President Jacob Zuma to bring this issue to the right forum before more people have died and while his facilitation team still remembers what the issues are.
As for us, we will be demonstrating again on June 21st, demanding more action from the SADC leaders.
Our Struggle Continues Until We have Democracy in Zimbabwe
---------------------
Den Moyo â€" Chairman MDC USA, chairman 21st Free Zimbabwe Global Movement
Source - Chairman MDC USA
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