The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has set up a four-member task force, led by South Africa, to oversee Zimbabwe's economic recovery.

The task force was set up following SADC's extraordinary summit in Swaziland on Monday that looked at Zimbabwe's request for an US$8 billion bailout, to kick start the economic recovery process.

SADC ministers of finance from South Africa, Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Botswana will be on this task force.

This grouping also plans to urge western countries to end 'sanctions' on Zimbabwe and all SADC diplomatic missions were given a mandate to embark on a diplomatic offensive, to have the sanctions removed.

But once again SADC appears to be following their pro-Mugabe line. Robert Mugabe's main focus has been on ending the targeted sanctions that stop him traveling to a number of countries and prevent his wife from having even more extravagant shopping trips. He also wants to see billions of dollars of western money flow into Zimbabwe, to repair the damage he has done and restore his credibility in the electorate.

Daniel Molokele, a leading pro-democracy activist, told us the SADC task force's efforts will be misdirected if they focus their attention on the western nations.

'If they want sanctions lifted, the task force efforts should be on the Joint Monitoring Implementation Committee (JOMIC) and other structures of the Global Political Agreement (GPA),' Molokele said.

Targeted sanctions were slapped on a group of over 170 diehard Robert Mugabe loyalists by the international, for their role in the breakdown in the rule of law and countless violations of human rights.

'This is why we have these targeted sanctions in the first place. There is no rule of law; there are no property rights and we still have a media that operates under strict rules. So the issue is not in Washington or in London but in Harare,' Molokele said.

'Has the inclusive government opened up the media, has the rule of law returned, has the government even depoliticized public institutions. The answer to all this is no. So how do you expect the western world to consider lifting the targeted sanctions when Zimbabweans themselves are living under sanctions imposed by their own government,' the pro-democracy activist added.

Molokele explained that conditions set out in the GPA concerning reforms have yet to be tackled by the inclusive government.

'How can it be possible to approach the international community when conditions set out in the GPA have yet to be implemented? These were agreed to by the three parties and not the donors. The donors are simply saying--implement what you set out in the GPA and we will help you, that's all they're saying,' Molokele said.

The United States and the United Kingdom, two of the country's biggest donors want the inclusive government to submit a credible economic recovery programme. They also want the government to implement genuine and comprehensive political and economic reforms before they can provide support as well as lift the targeted sanctions.