Zimbabwe’s presidential spokesperson, George Charamba, has criticised Dr. Nevers Mumba, the head of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Election Observer Mission, for allegedly breaching SADC protocols in compiling the region’s report on Zimbabwe’s recent elections.
Several observer missions, including SADC, raised concerns about voter intimidation and irregularities during the August 23 polls, stating that they did not comply with the country’s constitution and regional and international principles.
Charamba argued that elections are a complex process that goes beyond a single day and suggested that key decisions regarding the SADC Observer Mission’s report should not be solely in the hands of one individual overseeing a subsidiary body. He said:
We are seeing an enthusiastic chairman of a process which is in fact a SADC one. He does not report to the Zambian people. Which is why we all were flabbergasted to find him spending as much as more than 2 hours on a national television. Who is he reporting to? This is a SADC mission for goodness’ sake, appointed by the chairman of a SADC organ. Not SADC Summit, SADC Organ, right? What it means is, that the preliminary report still has to: 1. Become a final report and when it becomes a final report, it still has to be tabled before a council of ministers which is really a body which brings together foreign ministers of SADC. There is a council of ministers and is probably meeting around February, March. When that has happened and the foreign ministers must look at that report, they will then push it upwards to the SADC Troika. It still has to come to Summit and this will be about August next year (2024). It is only at Summit that that report is tabled, discussed, amended, endorsed or rejected.
Meanwhile, Nelson Chamisa, leader of the main opposition party, Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), reiterated his party’s rejection of the election results. Chamisa expressed doubt about pursuing legal action within Zimbabwe’s courts and instead viewed the SADC as a court of public opinion that had already deemed the election a sham.
The situation in Zimbabwe remains contentious, with political stakeholders expressing differing opinions on the election’s legitimacy and the best approach to address their concerns.
SADC now has its final report, stating that the election in Zimbabwe lacked legitimacy. Dr. Mumba, the Chairperson of the SADC EOM, explained that the only difference between the preliminary and final reports is the inclusion of electoral developments. He said the report was written and approved by over 20 individuals, making it a conclusive SADC report.