SADC & AU urged to ensure political agreement respected

By Alex Bell
01 July 2009

Human rights group, the Solidarity Peace Trust on Tuesday called on the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union to ensure that the power sharing agreement in Zimbabwe is fully implemented.

Officials from the South African based group made the comments during the launch of two Zimbabwean reports in Johannesburg, saying that guaranteeing human rights in Zimbabwe rested in the agreement being implemented.

“Strong steps must be taken by the guarantors of the GPA (global political agreement) – SADC and the AU – to ensure that the democratic and human rights reforms of the GPA are implemented with greater speed,” said the rights group’s research director Brian Raftopoulos.

SADC brokered last September’s agreement between ZANU PF and the MDC, but has since remained alarmingly quiet despite numerous reports that cracks are appearing in the unity formation. The MDC in May sent a letter of appeal to the SADC secretariat to intervene on the outstanding issues of the GPA, but to date there has been no action or even public statement from the regional body on the Zimbabwe political issue.

The MDC has come up against a brick wall in ZANU PF’s refusal to finalise outstanding issues from the GPA, among them Mugabe’s unilateral reappointment of central bank governor Gideon Gono and appointment of Attorney General Johannes Tomana.

“They (SADC) set up an agreement that must be reviewed in six months; they have a responsibility on this matter. We have to take it back to them as a body that is responsible. We have to refer the matter back to them . . . to who else should we refer this issue?” Raftopoulos said.