Civil society organisations in Zimbabwe have made an appeal to the African Union (AU) leadership on the non-implementation of key reforms in Zimbabwe that will guarantee democratic, non-violent, free and fair elections in the country.

The plea was made at the weekend on the sidelines of the 18th AU Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The civil society organisations that are in Ethiopia under the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CZC) banner also held a meeting with the SADC
Executive secretary, Dr. Tomaz Salamao.

During the meeting, Dr. Salamao indicated that he is planning a mission to Zimbabwe to meet the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) chairperson, Justice Simpson Mutambanengwe, the three Global Political Agreement (GPA) parties and civil society organisations.

Dr Salamao will further conduct an assessment before SADC can pronounce itself on Zimbabwe elections.

The civil society organisations said the constitutional reform process in Zimbabwe is yet to be finalised while several critical legislative and electoral reforms remain outstanding. “The infrastructure responsible for widespread electoral violence remains intact and active and the leadership of army and the security forces remain extremely politicised and blatantly partisan towards the former sole ruling party Zanu PF,” said CZC.

“We believe in African solutions to African problems but fear that the African Union may be too weak or timid to step up to the plate to decisively deal with the political conflict in Zimbabwe before it degenerates further. “Various institutions of the AU including the incoming Political Affairs
Commissioner, the Panel of the Wise, and the Peace and Security Council should all be more actively involved in an assessment of the political and
electoral situation in Zimbabwe in order to anticipate and prevent conflict that may come as a result of flawed elections,” said CZC.

The organization said it is opposed to going to elections under the same conditions of violence and intimidation as the country experienced in 2008
adding that democratic transition and political transformation will only take place in Zimbabwe with the decisive action and support from both SADC
and the AU.

“We therefore call upon the AU, as a guarantor of Zimbabwe’s Global Political Agreement and coalition government to put on public record its
unwavering commitment to ensuring that Zimbabwe gets full support to deliver credible, democratic elections that meet the AU’s Principles Governing Democratic Elections in Africa.

Specifically, the AU must pressure Zimbabwe to institute the following reforms ahead of elections:

1. A new, democratic constitution accompanied by critical electoral reforms such as an updated and accurate voters’ roll, guarantees for media freedoms, equal access by all political parties to state-controlled media during elections and promotion of gender equality. Urgent legislative reforms should include repealing or amending all legislation that hinders free political activity.

2. All soldiers currently deployed across the country must be returned and confined to their barracks and all service chiefs must issue a public
statement committing themselves to restricting their activities to their constitutional mandate and to totally separate themselves from politics
and from interference in political and electoral affairs.

3. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and its Secretariat Staff charged with elections management, must be completely demilitarized, independent,
professional, adequately resourced with direct technical support from SADC and the AU to enable it to impartially discharge its mandate.

4. Before Zimbabwe can set a date for elections, the AU and SADC must independently examine and certify that the environment is conducive to holding non-violent, free and fair elections. The elections must be robustly monitored and observed by local, regional and international groups who should have unfettered access to all parts of the country.

5. Together with SADC and the UN, the AU should deploy peacekeeping monitors to Zimbabwe at least three months ahead of elections to prevent state-sponsored violence and intimidation and to guarantee peaceful transfer of power to the eventual winner of the elections. The peace-keeping monitors should remain on the ground a further three months after elections have been held.