SADC and MDC comment after Zimbabwe talks conclude

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• published: 21 Jul 2015
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1. SOUNDBITE (English) Tomaz Salomao, Executive Secretary of SADC (Southern African Development Community) "The summit asks the electoral authorities in Zimbabwe that verification and release of results are expeditiously done in accordance with due process of law. Summit also urge all parties in the electoral process in Zimbabwe to accept the results when they are announced." 2. SOUNDBITE (English) Tomaz Salomao, Executive Secretary of SADC (PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS A JUMP CUT++) "The verification and counting must be done in the presence of candidates or their agents if they so wish, who must all sign the authenticity of such verification and counting. B: SADC offers to send its election observer mission who would be present throughout such verification and counting. 15: If such verification and counting make it necessary for the parties to go for a run-off, the government is urged to assure that the run-off elections are held in a secure environment." 3. SOUNDBITE (English) Tendai Biti, Zimbabwe's opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Secretary-General: "That we won this election, without the need of a run-off and that position has not changed. What SADC seem to try to be seducing us is to say 'well, if there are guarantees of the rule of law and conditions and the result indicates a run-off, then everyone should participate', that's the implicit line in one of their paragraphs, so it's almost like begging us to participate if the right conditions, and of course they have to do that because the consequences of us not participating to illegitimise any person who would want to participate in that election and of course there will be concerns, primarily with the legitimacy in the region, that's why there is a SADC charter in the first instance to ensure that stability and legitimacy in the region." STORYLINE Southern African leaders discussed Zimbabwe's deepening electoral crisis at a marathon 12-hour summit that ended before dawn on Sunday with a weak declaration and marked failure to criticise the absent President Robert Mugabe. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who claims to have won the March 29 election outright, had wanted the leaders meeting in Zambia to press Mugabe to resign after 28 years as Zimbabwe's leader. And Western powers, the United Nations and regional church, democracy and human rights groups had called for the meeting to demand an immediate announcement of the long-delayed election results. Instead, a summit declaration called for the expeditious verification of results in the presence of the candidates or their agents " in accordance with due process of law". "SADC offers to send its election observers mission who would be present throughout such verification and counting," said Tomaz Salomao, Executive Secretary of Southern African Development Community (SADC). The Southern African Development Community stands accused of pandering to Mugabe with disregard for its own constitution to promote democracy. But inviting Tsvangirai to the meeting was an unprecedented move that probably accounted for Mugabe's absence. There was no comment from Mugabe or the three hard-line ministers he sent to represent him at the summit. Mugabe's allies indicated Saturday's summit was part of a Western plot to overthrow him because of his land reform program, which was touted as an effort to redistribute the wide swathes of fertile land owned by the tiny white community to poor blacks. Presidents at the conference rushed away when the meeting ended, refusing to answer questions. They left that to Zambia's Foreign Affairs Minister Kabinga Pande, who declared that they listened to both parties and that both had said there was no crisis in Zimbabwe. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/5742cd7323a0912c1937085cd3e68936 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork