{{Zimbabwean quasi-political groupings masquerading as non-governmental organisations that had convened in Ethiopian Capital to advance MDC-T demands for “‘reforms’’ ahead of elections were yesterday told to leave as the African Union Golden Jubilee celebrations organising committee had not made provisions for non-State actors.}}
At the time of writing, there were reports that the groups that came here under the banner of the Zimbabwe Civil Society Heads of Coalitions were on their way to Harare amid reports that MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, who had communicated to the Zimbabwean Embassy of his pending arrival here, had cancelled his trip at the last minute in the wake of the fate that befell the groups that were pushing his party’s agenda.
Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to Ethiopia Andrew Mtetwa confirmed that Mr Tsvangirai had communicated his pending visit, but had gone quiet yesterday.
Speaking from Harare, Mr Tsvangirai’s spokesperson Mr Luke Tamborinyoka said: “He was supposed to travel to Addis Ababa today, but cancelled the trip because his wife (Ms Elizabeth Macheka) is not feeling well.
“Ours is a unique situation where there is shared power. All the principals were invited by the AU and this matter was discussed during the principals meeting and they agreed they should all go. The AU are guarantors of this power-sharing deal and that is the reason why the principals agreed that all of them were supposed to attend the celebrations.
The Golden Jubilee celebrations, however, are for Heads of State and Government and are not a GPA affair as alleged by the PM’s Office.
Sources close to the developments said Mr Tsvangirai wanted to push his reform agenda that took him on a wild goose chase around Sadc and West Africa recently.
The pro-MDC-T NGOs that have been funded to the tune of US$ 2 million by the British Embassy in Harare to launch an advocacy campaign programme code-named “Feya Feya’’ ostensibly to demand a “free and fair” election in Zimbabwe, had convened here ahead of their Leaders Conference scheduled to run at Pandhari Lodge from May 30 to 31 where they are to draw up a list of demands pertaining to the holding of harmonised elections in Zimbabwe.
Highly-placed sources at the British Embassy in Harare recently revealed that the funding from British ambassador Ms Deborah Bronnert was being channelled through the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, which also received US$36 000 from the George Soro’s-funded Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa towards the conference that is expected to be attended by 200 people from pro-MDC-T quasi-political organisations like the Coalition Against Corruption and Institute for a Democratic Alternative In Zimbabwe.
NGOs that convened here, among them the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, the Media Monitoring Project-Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Election Support Network, Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum and Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights were lobbying for what they called ‘‘minimum conditions for the holding of free and fair elections in Zimbabwe.’’
They convened a media briefing at Radison Blue Hotel where they presented a paper titled “Briefing Paper on the Environment Preceding the Election in Zimbabwe 20 May 2013”, but the briefing spectacularly flopped when only two people — Harrison Nkomo and Muleya Mwanyanda — believed to be Zimbabweans resident here turned up.
The audience was outnumbered by the Zimbabwe Civil Society Heads of Coalitions leadership that comprised of Thabani Nyoni (spokesperson of Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition), Blessing Gorejena (ZLHR), Rose Hazi (ZLHR), Nickson Dewa (Media consultant) and Ellen Dingani (ZESN).
The group sought to lobby the African Union, the embassies here and any sympathisers on what they called minimum standards for a free and fair election in Zimbabwe which they put as having the Government:
* Create a conducive environment for the holding of free and fair elections by allowing civil society organisations to carry out their lawful activities without harassment, raids, restrictions and unlawful arrests;
* Ensure that the public media is accessible to all citizens, political players and allow media practitioners and journalists to operate freely without intimidation, restrictions from repressive legislation and harassment;
* Reform and professionalise ZEC, realign and harmonise electoral laws with the new constitution, urgently establish the electoral court, carry out an inclusive voter education, conduct a transparent and acceptable voter registration exercise;
* Allow interested foreign observer missions to observe the election and guarantee safety and security to local observers; and
* Professionalise and depoliticise the security sector.
The advocacy campaign which is expected to culminate in “Feya feya” is modelled along the framework of the Global Advocacy Campaign to feed into MDC-T’s demands for a free and fair election.
Observers here said the NGOS campaign was unwarranted coming as it did just a few days after the signing and publication of the new Constitution in which Zimbabweans enshrined their national ethos, their election regimen, rights and their derogation.
But, the observers said, the MDC-T/NGO campaign was hardly surprising given that the MDC-T and its appendages in the NGO sector were gearing to trash the electoral environment to create self-fulfilling prophecies ahead of imminent defeat in the harmonised elections.
Several recent surveys have pointed to a Zanu-PF victory with key MDC-T allies among them the National Constitutional Assembly, Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Vigil and the shadowy Sokwanele along with western media organisations like CNN and the UK Guardian all forecasting a Zanu-PF victory in the harmonized elections.
{Herald}
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