“Hardliners acting like Smith”: Coltart

Daily News (edited to correct mistakes)

http://www.dailynews.co.zw

By Xolisani Ncube

30 May 2011

A cabinet minister has likened the unilateral push of  hardliners in President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF to have elections this year to ruthless colonial leader Ian Smith’s unilateral declaration of independence (UDI) in 1965.

David Coltart, the education minister, said Mugabe and his military backers’ election rally could return Zimbabwe into a pariah state in the same manner Smith did when he broke ranks with Britain under his UDI call.

“If the hardliners’ call for elections this year against the wishes of Sadc and the rest of the world, they will be just acting like Ian Smith who thought that he could declare Zimbabwe an independent country without the consent of other partners,” he said.

Coltart, a top ranking official of Welshman Ncube’s MDC party represented several liberation war heroes who were detained during the 1980s.

He told a public meeting on elections on Thursday night that it was “foolish” and “premature” to talk about elections now because the process of holding free and fair elections was yet to be achieved.

“We have at least ten steps which are outlined in the Global Political Agreement talking about the roadmap to hold free and fair elections and it is unfortunate that we have only completed three of them. So I don’t see any sense in us talking about elections at this time,” he said.

Political analyst Trevor Maisiri told the same meeting that Mugabe’s Zanu PF party was creating its own crisis by attempting to call for elections against the wishes of the region, who were the overseers of the power sharing agreement reached by the three main political parties.

The African Union in June 2008 mandated Sadc with overseeing the formation of a coalition government and creation of conditions for a fresh fre election after rejecting a violent presidential election runoff held the same year.

“Sadc is likely to hold on its stance because they would like to avoid the challenge it faced in 2008,” said Maisiri.

He said that Sadc was likely to take a tough stance against Mugabe if he went ahead with a unilateral call for elections before the adoption of a clear roadmap being supervised by regionally-appointed mediator, South African President Jacob Zuma.

“More so, Sadc is South Africa and in this case South Africa is fighting its legacy in conflict resolution and its glory and position in mediation considering that they have not done much in other missions in Africa,” said Maisiri.

Douglas Mwonzora, the MDC spokesperson said it was “suicidal” for Mugabe to go it alone.

“It is not about fearing Zuma as other people in Zanu PF would by listening to what he advices but it is about respecting him and his position in our case as a guarantor to this GPA. We should not fight against other heads of states,”

“If Mugabe tries to go it alone it will be suicidal and the consequences are so huge such that it will not affect not only Zimbabwe but even other countries close to us,” said Mwonzora.

Maisiri said Zanu PF had realised that South Africa held sway within Sadc hence the moves to frustrate Zuma.