These pledges are basically what the Global Political Agreement is all about. In their Declaration of Commitment in Article II of the GPA the three principals; President Mugabe himself, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara representing their various parties agreed that: “The Parties hereby declare and agree to work together to create genuine, viable, permanent, sustainable and nationally acceptable solutions to the Zimbabwe situation and in particular to implement the following agreement (i.e. the GPA) with the aims of resolving once and for all the current political and economic situation and charting a new political direction for the country.”
Why is Mugabe going against this now? President Mugabe says the Global Political Agreement (GPA) was never meant for the writing of a new constitution, that the country could go to the polls with or without a new national charter. Many would like to disagree with this new interpretation of the GPA. A perusal of the document shows that this clause was central to the whole compromise agreement.
One of the pillars of that agreement is Article VI, which is the pledge to draft a new people-driven constitution. It is therefore disingenuous of President Mugabe to say the GPA was not signed to craft a new constitution. To say this is tantamount to pulling out of the agreement and to breach the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment Act No.19 which he assented to and undertook to “unconditionally support”.
His insistence that South African President Jacob Zuma is only mediating in his personal capacity is another indication that he has rejected the GPA. Addressing the Zanu PF Central Committee on Friday the president said: “We are a sovereign state and we cannot be led by the government of South Africa. Let’s not be told that South Africa is our facilitator.”
The call for the elections has brought fear into the hearts of voters for the simple reason that the polls will not be any different from those of the past whose results have been either manipulated or rejected altogether. Zimbabwean elections have since the turn of the millennium been nothing but a charade, and if nothing concrete is done to ensure that they become authentic expressions of the people’s will then there is no need to call for them at all.Many obstacles stand in the way of a free and fair poll; these obstacles have long been entrenched in the electoral playing field. There is no denying that in the past elections have been manipulated to give unfair advantage to Zanu PF. The GPA was meant to address these anomalies. Calling for elections while these obstacles still exist does not make any sense.
Article X addresses lack of free political activity; it recognises the right to canvass and freely mobilise for political support as the cornerstone of any multiparty democratic system. The parties agreed that there should be free political activity throughout the country within the ambit of the law in which all political parties are able to propagate their views and canvas for support, free of harassment and intimidation. Reports still abound of Zanu PF activists harassing members of rival parties. This is also in breach of Article XII of the GPA which calls for the freedom of assembly and association. The Munyaradzi Gwisai case is the most recent example of a breach of this article.
Article XI calls for the rule of law and respect for the constitution and other laws. The parties agreed to respect and uphold the constitution and other laws of the land and to adhere to the principles of the rule of law. Again this article has been breached willy-nilly. President Mugabe’s call for elections without a new constitution is in itself against the constitution.
State organs still belong to Zanu PF and are not impartial in their discharge of duty and do not strictly observe the principles of the rule of law in breach of Article XIII of the GPA. Laws and regulations governing state organs and institutions are not being strictly adhered to and those violating them are not being penalised. A classic example of this are the political utterances of top military personnel such as Douglas Nyikayaramba who called for Mugabe to be pronounced life president and described Tsvangirai as a national security threat. Instead of being censured he was instead promoted from brigadier-general to major-general.
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In Article XIV, Mugabe and his co-principals recognised and acknowledged that traditional leaders were community leaders with equal responsibilities and obligations to all members of their community regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, race, religion and political affiliations. They committed themselves to ensuring the political neutrality of the traditional leaders and called upon the traditional leaders not to engage in partisan political activity at any level. But as recently as last month chiefs pledged their unwavering support for Mugabe and his party.
Another important pillar of the GPA is Article XIX which deals with the Freedom of Expression and Communication. Among other issues the clause stipulates steps be taken to ensure that the public media provides balanced and fair coverage to all political parties for their legitimate political activities. It also stipulates that the public media should refrain from using abusive language that may incite hostility, political intolerance and ethnic hatred or that unfairly undermines political parties and other organisations. Most importantly it calls for the issuance of licences to alternative broadcasters. Article XIX has virtually been ignored by Zanu PF.
Mugabe has shown his lack of commitment to the GPA from its onset; he doesn’t realise that rushed elections will not “resolve once and for all” the current political and economic situations and chart a new political direction for the country. He must be stopped!
