1-23-08, 9:33 am
The insincerity of President Robert Mugabe's government in agreeing to the opposition's demands for laws allowing the right to demonstrate has now been fully exposed by the banning of an opposition march which police had previously approved.
President Mugabe had only last week approved laws easing restrictions on political rallies and the media which were put through all the motions of being presented and fast-tracked through the House of Parliament and the Senate.
This was supposed to be the government's a show of commitment to implementing agreements with the opposition in the SADC-mediated talks to end the crisis in Zimbabwe.
As we reported last week, the government negotiator, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa had delayed his meeting with the opposition negotiators until after the laws had been passed so that he could report progress.
The amendments to the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) signed into law by President Mugabe last week were supposed to ease the traditionally stringent requirements for police clearance of political rallies.
Opposition parties and civic society believed that the security measures previously used to ban opposition meetings were now a thing of the past and the MDC duely notified the police of its intention to demonstrate tomorrow (Wed).
Under the ammended POSA only the courts would have the power to prevent political activities on security grounds, or if the Police wanted to ban such a rally, the relevant senior police officer for the area would have to show concrete proof of the threat caused by the proposed rally.
The MDC has previosly said the laws and President Mugabe's sincerity need to be put to the test before the MDC can accept that the government is sincere - and sure enough the government has failed the test by banning the 'Freedom Walk' planned and approved by the Police for Wednesday.
The MDC says the march is going on despite the ban, setting the stage for a confrontation similar to that going on in Kenya where the government stole an election and attempted to ban the opposition protesting. The resultant violence has so far killed several hundred people.
The time has now come for the SADC to take strong measures against the Mugabe government or admit that they have failed to persuade him to allow democratic opposition in the country.
The SADC's point man in the crisis, President Thabo Mbeki was in Harare trying to persuade President Mugabe to postpone the election as demanded by the agreements that his own negotiators had signed, but he went back to South Africa empty-handed.
And agency report show that discussion of the situation in Zimbabwe is not even on the agenda of the African Union meeting scheduled for Addis Ababa next week.
The South African Press Trust reports a senior foreign affairs official in President Thabo Mbeki's government saying President Mbeki has not been asked to brief the African Union Heads of Government and State on the progress of his political talks in Zimbabwe.
But the official does not also say whether President Mbeki has asked for a platform to do so which would show that the President understands how serious and urgent the situation in Zimbabwe is.
'If he is asked -- and he has not been asked thus far -- he might do so,' said the official, otherwise the political situation in Zimbabwe ahead of Parliamentary and Presidential elections in March is not on the meeting's agenda.
In the relaxed 'no hurry in Africa' way of doing things, President Mbeki is expected to report to the next Southern African Development Community (SADC) meeting which is not yet scheduled, then the report from there would find its way to the next African Union meeting - by which time Zimbabwe would probably be in ashes.
The MDC contends that President Mugabe's government has failed to carry out it undertaking to establish 'a level playing field' for the ballot. Its President, Morgan Tsvangirai told a rally in Harare that SADC should not allow President Robert Mugabe to belittle its efforts in seeking to resolve Zimbabwe's crippling economic crisis.
He said President Mugabe was now fearing defeat by the MDC and backtracking on what has been agreed, leading to a deadlock. 'We are saying that what we agreed on should be felt on the ground. SADC should take this matter seriously.'
Zanu-PF and the MDC have a historical opportunity of resolving the current national crisis through a free and fair election, said Tsvangirai, adding that Mugabe would not have solved the problem if he continued on his unilateral path (of holding an election which will not be recognised by the opposition).
'Since the formation of the MDC, democratic change has been our solution to the national crisis. We have never advocated for any armed rebellion but a free and fair election,' he told the rally on Sunday.
The yesterday the bombshell came in the form of Harare's police commander ordering the party not to proceed with the march on Wednesday.
The MDC has said however it is going ahead with the procession as agreed between the ZRP (Zimbabwean Republic Police) and the MDC and not allow the Police to violate the new provisions of the Public Order and Security Act which were signed into law by the President.
The late timing of the prohibition order, issued yesterday, was calculated to effectively rule out the possibility of the MDC overturning the ban through court action. The MDC applied for permission to stage the march more than a fortnight in advance, which more than complies with the new provisions.
But a police spokesman said yesterday the Zimbabwe Republic Police feared the march could degenerate into rioting. Police have not followed the procedure under which the the senior police officer for the area is supposed to present his evidence to a judge to make a decision about banning the rallies.
From
