BEFORE going further I wish to acknowledge that I am not a lawyer by training. The purpose of this contribution is to entice the views and comments of the legal fraternity on the implications of non-compliance with certain provisions of the Global Political Agreement in view of the likelihood of elections next year.
My understanding is very simple: the GPA is an agreement and non-compliance of certain provisions, without the agreement of all parties makes the agreement a nullity. The document is an agreement between the parties, it therefore follows that each party had its demands which must be fulfilled before the final objective of holding elections is fulfilled.
Articles XX and XXII of the GPA sum up the objectives or demands of each political party. The first objective was to form a government between the two formations of the MDC and Zanu PF. To a certain extent this objective has been fulfilled. This is because according to the two MDC formations, the appointment of Roy Bennett, the provincial governors, the Attorney-General and Governor of the Reserve Bank and ambassadors are still outstanding issues.
Until these appointments are made to the satisfaction of all parties we shall continue to have a partial government. In other words a full government is still to be realised. Until such a time that a government is fully formed it will be unfair for any party to demand specific performance of things that were to be achieved after the full formation of the inclusive government for example, the issue of sanctions, which one of the parties considers outstanding.
Non-conclusion of this issue will continue to send mixed signals to would-be investors, giving rise to a wait-and-see attitude. Sadly Zimbabwe is not the only investment destination in the world.
The other objectives are listed in sections 23.1 (a) and 23.2. The first says the parties shall constitute a committee composed of two representatives each to review of progress on the implementation and achievements of priorities and objectives set out in the agreement, namely economic political security and communication on an annual basis. This agreement and the relationship agreed to will be reviewed at the conclusion of the constitution-making process.
The second section, 23.2 says the parties will continually review the effectiveness and any other matter relating to the functioning of the inclusive government established by the constitution in consultation with the guarantors.
Looking at the above, it is clear what the government to be formed is supposed to do. Unfortunately some parties are choosing to hear what they want to hear. Section C of the above-mentioned article talks about reviewing the relationship after the constitution-making process.
In the corridors of some political parties this has been interpreted to mean should a new constitution be in place and the parties feel they can no longer work together it will mean automatically going for elections even if other provisions of the agreement have not been met.  President Jacob Zuma of South Africa has even gone public through his spokesperson urging Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to be flexible in his demands, presumably to allow the smooth implementation of the constitution-making process so that elections can be held in 2011 under the new constitution.
Of course, one must be flexible as stipulated in the GPA, especially when it comes to what we are dealing with. It is very important, it is peoples’ lives. But this is politics. One normally gives in to the less important issues and normally these are not spoken about publicly. As an opponent it should be worrying that one is suddenly giving in to what one once felt strongly and publicly about.
Upon fulfilment of the inclusive government to the satisfaction of all parties the government is supposed to come up with a programme of action for the removal of sanctions. This is not the responsibility of the MDC-T alone. So until the inclusive government is formed to the satisfaction of all parties sanctions shall remain in place.
In turn there will be no economic growth as envisaged in the GPA and consequently there will be no elections because such conditions do not promote an environment for free and fair elections. Full implementation of the GPA gives us that perfect platform for free, fair and non-violent elections.
The GPA affects us all. Let’s talk about it openly. A programme on ZBC-TV involving genuine independent thinkers will be helpful.

T Mwanawevhu
Southerton, Harare.

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