South African Facilitators Heading to Zimbabwe for Election Roadmap Talks

http://www.voanews.com/

22 May 2012

Violet Gonda | Washington

The facilitation team of South African President Jacob Zuma is expected in 
Zimbabwe next week to check on progress made by the unity government in 
fine-tuning the election roadmap the Southern African Development Community 
says is necessary before the country's next polls.

Mr. Zuma is the SADC-appointed mediator in Harare, following the disputed 
and bloody 2008 presidential elections.

President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF party have consistently called for 
elections this year, even in the absence of a new constitution.

But the two MDC formations in the coalition government insist critical 
democratic reforms are implemented before any fresh polls are called, in 
particular the writing of a new constitution.

But analysts say SADC's mediation role in Zimbabwe has reached its full 
potential and is losing steam as conflicts over the same issues remain in 
the unity government with no solution in sight.

Mr. Zuma’s international affairs adviser, Lindiwe Zulu, told VOA that the 
South African team will hold progress meetings with all the parties in 
Zimbabwe during the visit.

“The facilitation team is going back to Zimbabwe to do the work that we 
normally do as a facilitation team," said Zulu. "We have meetings, and we 
are following up as we have been mandated by our principal President Jacob 
Zuma.”

United Kingdom-based Zimbabwean analyst Nkululeko Sibanda said the South 
African facilitation team now needs to re-strategize and begin a new 
discussion that involves other key players, who can bring fresh ideas to the 
negotiating table to move Zimbabwe forward.
Sibanda said political parties will continue to disagree because “they are 
serving other interests that are outside and away from the table.”

“I think we have got to bring other people onto the table and say where do 
we go so that it is an all stakeholders conclusion on how we go forward, and 
this is the problem we are having with the constitution, and this is why 
people continue to complain,” Sibanda added.