WHAT IS ZANU-PF PLOTTING BEHIND THE SCENES???

Last week, in an interview with The Zimbabwean, Zanu (PF) national spokesperson Rugare Gumbo made no bones about his party’s rejection of continued Southern African Development Community facilitation of the political logjam that has stalled our nation’s development and progress. He equated further involvement by the regional block in our political affairs to an affront on this country’s sovereignty, saying there was no need for further reforms, hence SADC must ship out. His reasoning, which of course is reflective of the Zanu (PF) position, was that we are soon to adopt a new constitution that will provide a roadmap towards elections and, hence, a new political-social-economic dispensation.

But this reasoning is fatally fallacious, and smacks of mischief on the part of Zanu (PF). To start with, it is wrong to appeal to the coming constitution as justification for the exclusion of SADC. It must be remembered that even when the SADC facilitation team came on board, Zimbabwe had a constitution. Even though it was flawed, adherence to the constitution would have averted the crisis that we are currently grappling with. For instance, the Lancaster House Constitution made provisions for the respect of human rights, media freedom and the impartiality of service chiefs, yet these were flouted with impunity. It therefore does not follow that a new constitution will automatically spawn a culture of constitutionalism.

Second, the involvement of the SADC facilitation team does not translate to a corrosion of our sovereignty at all. SADC is not coming with guns and battalions to change things in Zimbabwe, but is trying to help us resolve issues through amicable negotiation in which the principal political parties have centre stage. After all, Zanu (PF) was not forced into the negotiation process at gun-point. They willingly signed the Global Political Agreement in 2008. There are several issues agreed in that document that need resolving, among them security sector re-alignment, and media and electoral reform. Zanu (PF) was a willing signatory to the GPA and is therefore bound to ensure that it is consummated. Third, Zimbabwe is a member of SADC, and is therefore bound by the various treaties to which it is a signatory. Whether Zanu (PF) likes it or not, this country adopted the SADC guidelines on free and fair elections and must adhere to them.