SADC still awaiting invite from Zimbabwe

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is awaiting an invitation from the Zimbabwean government to monitor the 31 March elections, "but there is no crisis, we still have enough time," a senior official told IRIN. "We are expecting an invitation any day now and it is not too late. I have been part of observer missions which have arrived [in countries going to polls] three weeks before the elections," said Jesse Duarte, director of multilateral affairs at the South African Department of Foreign Affairs. Duarte was speaking to IRIN from Mauritius, where an SADC ministerial meeting begins this week. "The Zimbabwean government has made a commitment to inviting the team, and we respect that," she said. The team will be a "statutory" one that includes legal experts from the region. South Africa chairs the SADC organ on politics, defence and security. Zimbabwe's foreign minister, Stan Mudenge, revealed a list of countries invited to observe the elections, including SADC members, during the weekend. "I am not in a position to comment on that as we have not received any notification from Mr Mudenge," Duarte told IRIN. According to the SADC's electoral guidelines, invitations to observer missions should be extended 90 days before elections. "The timing of the invitation is not in accordance with international norms and practice. A smaller SADC team should have visited the country at least two or three months ahead of the elections, at least to verify the electoral roll," said Anne Hammerstad, an SADC expert with the South African Institute of International Affairs. SADC would be unable to pronounce a "credible" verdict on the elections, as it had failed to monitor the run-up to the ballot, she pointed out. "It is already too late to send an observer mission now," the Africa Institute's SADC expert, Sehlare Makgetlaneng, told IRIN. "SADC should have been more pro-active", and pressured the government, he said. Russia is the only European country among the 32 nations invited by Zimbabwe: 23 are from Africa, five from Asia and three from the Americas. Regional and international organisations to which invitations have been extended include the African Union, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the Non-Aligned Movement and the UN. The last legislative elections in Zimbabwe in 2000 were marred by violence and intimidation, and the government has been under pressure to ensure that the March ballot is seen to be free and fair.