President leaves for Maputo

Harare – President Mugabe yesterday left for Maputo, Mozambique, to attend a special Southern African Development Community (Sadc) Heads of States and Government summit to be held today. He was accompanied by State Security Minister Sydney Sekeramayi, Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa and Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi.
Zanu-PF negotiators to the Global Agreement, Transport, Communication and Infrastructure Development Minister Nicholas Goche and Justice and Legal Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa had gone earlier.

The Sadc summit will deliberate on political developments in the region, with mobilising funding for polls in Zimbabwe being high on the agenda.
The President on Thursday proclaimed 31 July this year as the date for the harmonised elections.

The proclamation was in compliance with the Constitutional Court ruling two weeks ago compelling President Mugabe to announce dates for the general elections as soon as possible to allow the polls to be held by 31 July this year.

The proclamation of elections dashed MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai’s demands for the polls to be delayed.
Mr Tsvangirai is demanding that elections be delayed to allow for reform of the media and the security services.

His bid to delay the polls has widely been seen as a delaying tactic as he has widely been predicted to lose the polls to President Mugabe.
President Mugabe used powers enshrined in the Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) Act Chapter 10: 20 to gazette agreed electoral laws instead of passing these through Parliament in order to comply with the deadline for elections that the Constitutional Court judgment set.

Tsvangirai is now pinning hopes on the Sadc Summit to reverse the national elections date arguing that by proclaiming the polls without consulting him, President Mugabe had created a “Constitutional crisis”.

He has since approached the Supreme Court to appeal against the date of elections as well as threatened to boycott the polls.
Preparations for the elections have reached an advanced stage, with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and the Registrar General of Voters already carrying out intensive voter education.

Sadc has since endorsed the holding of elections in Zimbabwe since a new Constitution had been adopted.
The elections will bury the coalition Government that came as a result of disputed polls in 2008.

Vice-President Joice Mujuru and service chiefs saw President Mugabe off at the Harare International Airport. – New Ziana.