SADC orders parliament to meet tomorrow to debate electoral laws

The Southern African Development Community has ordered Zimbabwe’s Parliament to meet tomorrow to debate the amendments to the Electoral Act that were made into law by decree by President Robert Mugabe last Thursday.

This is according to summary of the SADC resolutions reached at the special summit on Saturday made available by the Movement for Democratic Change’s Information Department.

The Insider has so far not been able to verify the resolutions from any other source.

According to the MDC statement, the government through the Ministry of Justice was “ordered and directed” to apply for a postponement of the elections following consultations by all political parties.

The MDC statement, however, says they should seek to move the date of the elections from the 30 July 2013 and not 31 July.

The summit is also reported to have introduced a raft of measures that should be implemented before the elections which include amendments to the Public Order and Security Act and the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

SADC also ordered that the security forces publicly state or restate their commitment to the rule of law in particular their complete adherence to section 208 of the constitution.

Below is the full statement from the MDC:

SADC summit resolutions on Zimbabwe:

1) Government through the ministry of Justice is ordered and directed
to make an application to the constitutional court following
consultations by all political parties ,seeking to move the date of
the election from the 30 July 2013

2) that the agreed amendments to the electoral act which had been
purportedly been made into law by the President using the Presidential
Powers(Temporal Measures ) Act be brought to parliament this Tuesday
for debate and adoption.

3) that the SADC facilitation team and the troika team appointed in
Livingstone sit in Jomic and not merely receive reports as demanded by
ZANU- PF

4) that an Inter Ministerial Committee be appointed to deal with
implementation of agreed issues on media reform and the monitoring of
hate speech in all media

5) that the security forces publicly state or restate their commitment
to the rule of law in particular their complete adherence to section
208 of the constitution.

6) that within the time parliament has remaining the parties negotiate
and make the necessary amendments to POSA, AIPPA, the Broadcasting Act
,section 121 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act etc

7) that SADC observers be deployed immediately consistent with the
SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections

8) that any other issue and the implementation of the above be
overseen by the facilitation team.

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