Zimbabwe’s civil society organizations (COs) will meet the Southern African Development Community (SADC) executive secretary Tomaz Augusto Salomao on November 22nd in Botswana to discuss ways of resolving the country’s long-running political crisis, privately-run radio station “SW Radio Africa” reported on Saturday in Harare.
SW Radio Africa, operated by exiled Zimbabweans based in London, quoted an official of pressure group “Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition” as saying the CSOs would meet Salamao and his team on 22 November in Gaborone, Botswana.
“It will be the first of three meetings we will have in Botswana,” the official said.
The other two meetings are with Botswana civil society organizations and government officials.
The CSOs’ regional engagement comes at a time when SADC mediator South African President Jacob Zuma said he would not support an election in Zimbabwe that is marred by violence, intimidation and a suppressed media environment.
Zuma’s International Affairs advisor Lindiwe Zulu told the media this week that the mediator wanted to see a conducive environment for free and fair elections before the polls are held in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe’s CSOs, under the banner of the “Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition”, in October held “ice-breaking” consultations with Zuma’s three-member facilitation team in Pretoria, South Africa.
It was the first time under South Africa’s mediation role that CSOs had been given an opportunity to contribute to what a roadmap to solve the Zimbabwe crisis should look like.
Political conditions in Zimbabwe have worsened during the past two months amid an escalating dispute between President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai over appointments of senior coalition government officials.
The dispute has prompted Mugabe to threaten to call for elections next year whether or not the country has completed an ongoing process to draft a new Constitution.
Source African Press Agency
African News from NetNewsPublisher.com
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