A Tanzanian, David Katye, who is supposed to join the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (Jomic), flew back to his country after a Zanu PF representative failed to attend a meeting where he was supposed to be introduced.
Report by Nqaba Matshazi
The Zanu PF representative to Jomic, Nicholas Goche, reportedly could not attend the meeting of the committee scheduled for last week and the assembly had to be moved to the following day.
“We had a scheduled meeting with them today (Thursday), but Goche is not around and we cannot proceed in his absence,” Elton Mangoma of the MDC-T, who is the present holder of the revolving chairmanship, said last week.
“This is a tripartite arrangement and if one of the parties is not there, we cannot proceed.”
However, the Friday meeting also failed to take place after a Zambian, Colly Muunyu, who was also seconded to the Global Political Agreement (GPA) monitoring body said he could not make it, Mangoma confirmed.
He said another meeting had been scheduled for this week, but it depended on Jomic members’ availability for the meeting to take place.
“We are checking everyone’s diaries to see when they can be available for the meeting. as long as their diaries do not make it possible, then we cannot have the meeting,” Mangoma explained.
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Southern African leaders seconded two people, one from Tanzania and another from Zambia to Jomic, in an effort to strengthen the monitoring body, which Sadc views as a key cog in the functioning of the GPA.
However, bureaucratic bungling and scepticism has seen the two failing to join Jomic, long after Sadc, which is overseeing negotiations in Zimbabwe, recommended that they should be party of the body.
Sadc at the end of May at the Luanda summit, recommended the seconding of two representatives to Jomic, but scepticism remains over their terms of reference.
Absent members committed elsewhere: Nyathi
Jomic spokesman Joram Nyathi confirmed that there was supposed to be a meeting, but it had been cancelled.
“There was supposed to be a full Jomic meeting, but some members were committed elsewhere,” Nyathi said.
He said he was not sure where the hold-up had been, but reiterated that the issue of their terms of reference had been a sticking point.
Nyathi said the two would be working with the Sadc facilitation team, which is headed by South African President, Jacob Zuma.
The two have previously been to Zimbabwe, but had not formally resumed their duties with Jomic, as they waited to be officially assigned their duties.
