THE Zimbabwean government says it has received the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) final report on the bloc’s findings and recommendations of the August harmonised elections.
In an interview with source acting Foreign Affairs Minister Amon Murwira said the government would go through the document and respond accordingly.
This followed a meeting with the SADC countries’ Ambassadors over political developments in Zimbabwe held on Friday,
“We received the report Thursday and we are reading it with a mind at the end of the day, we will respond to it.
“As the report of an election observation mission gives its recommendations which we will either accept or reject, but it is very important to have comments from a report,’’ Murwira said adding that people should know that the report is not a legal instrument but just a peer review instrument which can be accepted or rebutted.”
Part of the final report advised aggrieved parties to seek internal remedies to map the way forward following the contested polls.
“The SEOM calls for all concerned parties to ensure that any grievances with respect to the election results are channelled through the appropriate legal processes to ensure the exhaustion of ddomestic legal remedies.”
He stated that the government’s position was very clear on the preliminary report and their response had been publicised.
“When we study the final report, we will be able to respond to it.”
The SADC Troika Organ submitted its final report on Zimbabwe’s harmonised elections where it reported that the plebiscite fell short of the SADC guidelines and principles of a democratic election.
The SADC Extraordinary Summit of Heads of States and Governments on Zimbabwe in Dares lam, Tanzania on October 31, 2023 will deliberate the Zimbabwe election crisis issue.
He further told NewZimbabwe.com that SADC had been very supportive of the Zimbabwe’s position.
“SADC is very supportive and they really appreciate our time taken to brief them. They have taken it as an important step by the Second Republic in terms of how we relate in SADC.
“We put our views on the table and we respect SADC member states,” added Murwira.
The SADC EOM preliminary report caused a stir with government and ruling party officials labelling its chairperson, Nevers Mumba a “puppet” being used by the West to destabilise the region.
The elections were rejected by the biggest opposition party Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) who described it as a “gigantic fraud” and are demanding a rerun.
Several other mission observers such as the European Union (EU), the Commonwealth, Carter Center described the election as flawed.
Source New Zimbabwe
