MDC resolves to escalate disputed issues to SADC

Frustrated by the intransigence of Zanu PF the MDC National Council has resolved to escalate the dispute raging in the coalition government to SADC for arbitration.

The coalition government principals have been deliberating on outstanding issues since the government was formed on 13 February 2009 without reaching a substantive
At the centre of the dispute are issues concerning;
 The reversal of unilateral appointments of Provincial Governors by President Mugabe
 The reversal of the unprocedural appointment of Dr Gideon Gono as RBZ Governor for a 2nd term
 The reversal of the unilateral appointment of Johannes Tomana as Attorney General
 The refusal by President Mugabe to swear in Roy Bennett from MDC-T as Deputy Agriculture Minister
 The reversal of unilateral and unprocedural appointments of Permanent Secretaries
 The stalled appointment of Zimbabwe’s Ambassadors to its foreign missions
 Delayed appointments of inclusive heads of Statutory commissions
 Continued systematic persecution of MDC-T activists by the Judiciary and law enforcement system
 Continued fresh commercial farm invasions.

The dispute over unilateral reconfiguration of the ICT Ministry headed by MDC-T’s Nelson Chamisa appears to have been amicably resolved as it is no longer subject of reference to SADC arbitration.

In terms of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) that ushered the coalition government following the failed March 2008 electoral process all senior appointments in government must be made after consultation has taken place between the coalition government principals and more specifically between the President and the Premier.

Such appointments were hitherto the prerogative of the President in consultation with various statutory constitutions established for each strategic segment of governance.

After signing the agreement President Mugabe however reneged on the obligation to consult with the Premier designate as he then was and hurriedly appointed 10 provincial governors as well as extending Dr Gono’s tenure of office as Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor and promoting Johannes Tomana as the Attorney General a position that had been vacant for nearly a year since the former incumbent Sobuzah Gula Ndebele was muzzled out after falling out with Zanu PF politicians.

After the Premier was sworn in the President went ahead to unilaterally announce 34 Permanent secretaries of the ministries shared by coalesce appointees prompting the premier to annul the appointments and seek that they be made substantive after consultations between him and the President to establish consensus.

At the same time President Mugabe was unilaterally effecting these unprocedural appointments he was reneging on a mandatory requirement for him to swear in nominees for political office in the coalition government without preconditions.

Instead of swearing in Roy Bennett nominated by MDC-T as the Deputy Agriculture Minister, President Mugabe conceded to a plan for the arrest of Mr Bennett and is now refusing to swear him into office on the pretext that the MDC-T nominee is facing serious allegations of insurgency and banditry which he will not be exonerated of by the courts.

But in so saying President Mugabe has not only reneged on mandatory responsibility to swear in the MDC-T nominee but has seriously flouted due process and convicted Bennett ahead of the courts and even if the courts should convict him on the merits of the case the hand of the president in influencing the conviction will be impossible to hide.

The outstanding disputes are widely considered to be stumbling blocks in efforts to reintegrate Zimbabwe into the family of global nations and attraction of foreign direct investment and or aid desperately needed to revive the country’s battered economy.

The decision by the MDC-T National Council meeting in Masvingo to refer the issues to SADC arbitration is in line with the GPA clauses that require disputes to be resolved through the Joint Implementation and Monitoring Committee (JOMIC) in the first instance failure of which they must be referred to SADC which is the guarantor of the GPA.

While it is the appropriate course to take SADC cannot be relied upon or trusted to abide by the GPA clauses judging by its past determination on the allotment of Ministries dispute where it deliberately breached the GPA by ordering co-ministering of the Home Affairs Ministry and refused to entertain any other suggested power sharing alternatives other than those submitted by Zanu PF.

Now that the party’s supreme decision making organ has resolved to refer the matter to SADC for arbitration it must prepare its structures for any disappointments likely to come from SADC determination.

Whatever the outcome if it is not favourable to the party’s desires as measured against provisions of the GPA the MDC-T must be prepared to accept the verdict and move on or lodge an appeal to the AU as stipulated in the agreement with coalition partners.
The appeal to Sadc is due to be handed in tomorrow according to MDC-T National spokesman and ICT Minister Hon Nelson Chamisa.

The decision is welcome in so far as it moves the stalled resolution of the unwarranted haggling by principals forward but must embarrass the three leaders as they are going to be portrayed as incompetents without national interest at heart.

For how else can leaders who argue over what they agreed in writing and signed up to when it comes to implementing same?

Decisive and democratic leaders vote on contentious issues and follow the outcome of the vote. This is obviously too much to expect from the unelected leaders in Zimbabwe.