Photo: Buanews Harare — THE forthcoming 31st Ordinary Sadc Summit of heads of State and Government slated for Luanda, Angola, this month should consider whether President Jacob Zuma continue as facilitator to Zimbabwe's inter-party dialogue after assuming the chairmanship of the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Co-operation, Government sources have said.
As a facilitator, President Zuma should report progress to the troika chairman who in turn reports to full summit and unless the Zimbabwe issue is finalised before the Luanda summit, as was envisioned at the extraordinary summit held in Sandton, South Africa in June, the South African leader would be reporting to himself; a development analysts say would create a conflict of interest.
Ms Lindiwe Zulu, who speaks for President Zuma's facilitation team, told The Herald yesterday that there was no problem with her boss wearing the two hats of chairing the troika and facilitating dialogue in Zimbabwe.
Other members of President Zuma's facilitation team are Mr Mac Maharaj and Mr Charles Nqakula. However, a senior Government official yesterday said it was the mandate of Sadc to appoint a facilitator.
"The facilitation team cannot suddenly assume status after the elevation of the facilitator to the Troika chairmanship.
"The Sadc Summit is the one that has the mandate of appointing the facilitator who in turn will appoint his own facilitation team.
"There are a number of scenarios here, which Sadc may consider to deal with this matter.
"The first scenario is for Sadc to decide on whether he (President Zuma) can serve as facilitator at the same time being the Troika chairman.
"The second option is for Sadc to allow President Zuma to undertake the two roles, but recusing himself when Zimbabwe is being discussed by the Troika.
"Another scenario that Sadc may consider is for President Zuma to postpone (assuming) his (Troika) chairmanship and continue as the facilitator to Zimbabwe's inter-party dialogue.
"If all these options fail, it means Sadc will have to go back to its tradition where facilitators are appointed from retired Presidents," one official said.
He said all the options would only work with the consent of the country, which is being facilitated.
"The facilitator served at the pleasure of the facilitated.
"We have a case where Sir Ketumile Masire the then President of Botswana was appointed as facilitator to the Democratic Republic of Congo, but was rejected by the Congolese.
"So a facilitator cannot just be imposed, he is built on the acceptance of the people being facilitated," said the official.
Another official said the facilitation team was a mere back up group appointed by the Sadc facilitator and it is not recognised by the regional bloc.
He said it does not assume status in Sadc operations since it was just a secretariat of the facilitator.
"In the case of President (Thabo) Mbeki who was the first facilitator in Zimbabwe, he appointed his facilitation team comprising Reverend Frank Chikane, Mukoni Ratshitanga and others.
"That team did not assume any Sadc status and it ceased its operations at the time President Mbeki passed over his facilitation role to President Zuma," said the official.
In an interview yesterday, Ms Zulu said: "We have the capacity to handle that because the facilitator has facilitation (team), which will play that role.
"The facilitation will then report to President Zuma in his capacity as the Troika chairperson. That is not going to be difficult for us."
She said the facilitation team would continue to deal with all issues raised by parties in the inclusive Government.
Ms Zulu said they were not working with any deadline, but were driven by progress on the ground.
She said negotiators had registered a lot of progress after they had agreed on election roadmap timelines.
At the Sandton summit, parties to the GPA agreed to have timelines for the draft election roadmap in place by the first week of July, which was duly achieved, and to have everything finalised by the time of the Luanda summit.
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"facilitation team would continue to deal with all issues raised by parties in the inclusive Government."
No worry.
There will be snap elections in Zimbabwe this year. - and that will render the issue moot.
Welcome back, Emily.
- So the whites play around with the Africans of the SADC - much like a cat may play around with a rat. The lackeys in the SADC dilly-dally with most prolific, cold-blooded and most efficient exterminator of human societies.
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It is conjectured in some quarters that during and after the next presidential election in Zimbabwe, whenever it occurs (see (*) below), that the whites of AFRICOM will be prosecuting a Vietnam-style, long-term imperial/racial war of attrition in which millions will perish in southern Africa - and millions more in the rest of Africa.
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In case, say, the Swazi expect to escape the conflagration by declaring their country's neutrality then perhaps they don't know the story of Laos. The USA had signed the Geneva accords that prohibited the dropping of bombs on Laos.
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[Aside: Did those agreements between the Asians (of honour) and the whites (of greed) matter? Well, did the accords signed by cecil rhodes and the local chiefs in Africa protect the natives from bondage and slaughter by cecil rhodes and the white man?]
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The USA dropped more tons of bombs on the civilians of that tiny neutral country than were dropped by the same whites on Japan AND Germany combined during all of the second world war.
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[Imagine a campaign that drops one planeload of bombs over Swaziland every 8 minutes, 24 hours a day for nine years.]
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[that is, over 7,000 pounds of explosive for every man, woman and child in Laos. Note that a half-pound cluster bomb can cause widespread mutilation and deaths within 150 feet.]
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[At the end of it all, can the surviving Swazi of a country turned into a wasteland, expect that the killer will feel any remorse? No. This is what a USA administration official said about it:
" The operation (in Laos) is something we can be proud of as Americans. It has involved virtually no American casualties. What we are getting for our money there is .. very cost effective" - Ural Johnson, US Undersecretary of State, 1969-1773.
"slaughtering innocent civilians in a "cost effective" way? That's how they would characterize their current campaign in Libya. And Somalia, Cote d'Ivoire etc That is how it was expected to be in Afghanistan and Iraq.
ref:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBmqwUZVzEU&
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Moral: There is no safety in weakness.
Moral: In times of peace prepare for war.
{It has been proposed that less that 10% of the past 2,000 years of human history have been without major wars raging somewhere. So here is the UN's wars in Libya, Cote d'Ivoire, Somalia.}
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Has Tsvangirai ever seen the body of a child mangled by a bomb dropped by the USA or UK? He can view online pictures from the front in Iraq and Libya. It is said that only those who have never fought in a war, seen the casualties and smelled the stench of death up close on the field would rush into one. Tsvangirai brings death to the people of maZimbabwe. Again the people will rise up to the invasion like their valiant ancestors - and, in a final Chimurenga, to triumph with a purge of the internal enemies OR to be exterminated on their feet.
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the struggle continues
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(*) It has been asked why UK, USA and EU countries have not invaded Zimbabwe yet. Some views have been expressed. We note that toward the end of WW2 it looked as if (the primarily cultural, civilian population centers at) Dresden, Hiroshima and Nagasaki had been spared the brutal destruction unleashed on other cities. .. .
> > I can't access it.
> The link at that chokora comment is to > a video at the video site "youtube". > To view it online, you need a fairly > speedy internet connection to the site. > Alternatively, you > may download the video for offline viewing. > It may take a long time on a slow > connectiono and you > may need extra (free) conversion > software. There > are also several parts to the video. > I don't know if there is a mirror site > for "youtube" located in the Africa > region. if not, then > Africa's young natives at the universities > of technology should actively go about it. >
I often search the words and phrases used by chokora, Takunya and check_point online. At times I search on an entire line or search on a topic by key words and names. Talk about hours of curious reading and an frightening awakening to Africa's threats and realities.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBmqwUZVzEU&
Great link, thanks.