Johannesburg – South Africa feels that an official fact-finding mission by a team of legal experts to Zimbabwe before the parliamentary election there is “unnecessary” and should be scrapped. The Southern African Development Community’s secretariat in Gaborone, Botswana, received a letter on Tuesday from the department of foreign affairs, which apparently stated that “the issue of the legal experts’ visit should not be followed up”. The team would have been made up of South African, Lesotho and Namibian legal experts. They were to have been sent to Zimbabwe by the SADC’s directorate of politics, defence and security. Earlier in the week, SADC deputy executive secretary Albert Muchanga said the legal team was to have investigated Zimbabwe’s compliance with the SADC’s regulations on democratic elections – accepted in August in Mauritius. “Zimbabwe invited the SADC to deploy legal experts to see how they (Zimbabwe) have incorporated the (SADC) regulations. This process will not help only the SADC, but also other interested parties with their perception and formulation of their decision concerning the election.” The (South African) director-general of foreign affairs, Ayanda Ntasaluba, said recently the team was preparing for a visit. Kgomotso Moroka, an advocate, was to have led the South African delegation. The government was initially holding back its views on whether a fair and just election was possible until after the visit. But, on Tuesday it said the circumstances were in place for a free election. The legal team was to have left on March 16. However, Zimbabwe has not issued an invitation.

SADC spokesperson Esther Kanaimba said from Gaborone that they had received the South African notification from Dr Jessie Duarte’s office. She is the director for multilateral affairs in the department of foreign affairs. Kanaimba said she couldn’t comment on the contents of the letter. However, it is believed the letter states that the issue was discussed “at the highest level” in South Africa and that it was felt “it is unnecessary to follow it up”, reports Beeld. Kanaimba said the SADC secretariat “has no power” to send in a legal team to Zimbabwe and were now waiting for orders from South Africa – which chairs the directorate of politics, defence and security, reports Mandy Rossouw. “We throw the ball in their (South Africa’s) court and they throw it back. We can’t do anything without their go-ahead,” said Kanaimba. Duarte, meanwhile, referred all questions to departmental spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa. According to Mamoepa, Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said South Africa had asked the SADC to organise a legal team. “This is what they had to do. We have nothing further to do with it,” he said. Mamoepa also added that correspondence between the SADC and the government was confidential and he refused to comment on the letter.

From News24 (SA), 16 February
SA ‘scraps’ Zim poll monitors
By Waldimar Pelser