SADC sets deadline – or does it?

6th November 2009
Gerry Jackson

The MDC are saying that they are happy with the SADC Summit and that Mugabe has a 30 day deadline to implement the GPA.

The SADC communiqué arrived late Friday and having read it, it is unclear how Prime Minister Tsvangirai and his delegation have arrived at this conclusion.

The SADC communique does not actually state that there is a deadline for the implementation of the GPA. It says: ‘The parties should engage in dialogue in order to find a lasting solution to the outstanding issues towards the full implementation of the GPA’.

The timeline in the Communique says that the ‘political parties who are signatory to the GPA should engage in dialogue with immediate effect within 15 days, not beyond 30 days’, and the dialogue should include all outstanding issues.

And what must have kept Mugabe happy was the point that said the international community must lift all forms of sanctions on Zimbabwe.

So it is unclear how it’s possible to read this document as a deadline on Mugabe to implement the GPA within 30 days.

It would appear to be a document that says nothing more than; remove sanctions on Mugabe and his ruling elite – and start talking again within 30 days.

Read the full SADC Communique Issued Thursday 05 November