The leader of the South African parliamentary delegation to Zimbabwe’s March 31 elections has accused the Democratic Alliance of abusing the mission for its own interests.
But, DA MP and mission member Roy Jankielsohn said there were no agreed-to guidelines by the participating parties prior to their departure for Zimbabwe, and ”the only rules that applied were those that were made up” by Goniwe.
Briefing the media at Parliament on Thursday, mission leader and African National Congress chief whip Mbulelo Goniwe said the DA would never have been accredited to observe the elections because of the ”kind of utterances it has made on Zimbabwe”.
Referring to statements made by Jankielsohn, Goniwe said this was a ”blatant abuse of the facility of the institution [of Parliament] to pursue a narrow misguided political agenda”.
”So if they wanted to go there as a separate political entity, they should have done so, just as the PAC and the ANC [did], and not hide under the cloak of Parliament to advance narrow political interests.
”On many occasions we have explained patiently that here we are representing one country; here we are represented by one flag…and go about our work irrespective of our own party political biases and whatever, and arrive at a report of what we have seen,” Goniwe said.
The African Christian Democratic Party, the United Christian Democratic Party, the United Democratic Movement, the Inkatha Freedom Party, and the ANC members, he said, unanimously agreed that the elections were ”credible, legitimate, free, and fair”.
”That, indeed, in their capacities as members of the mission, and not spokespersons of their respective parties.”
It was necessary to arrive at a level of maturity that distinguished party political interests from the overall interests of the country.
Goniwe said Jankielsohn violated the mission’s code of conduct, guidelines, and terms of reference with impunity.
Essentially, Jankielsohn constantly issued unverifiable and unsubstantiated statements ”intended to undermine the collective efforts” of the mission.
In blatant disregard and violation of the code of conduct and terms of reference passed by Parliament on February 28, he declared in the media that he reported only to his party.
This was brought to Jankielsohn’s attention on March 28 and he committed himself to the code of conduct.
However, Jankielsohn reneged on this commitment and ”decided to play party politics, and through his conduct, he has clearly distanced himself from the mission”.
Goniwe also criticised Independent Democrats member Vincent Gore, who was reportedly recalled from the mission by his party leadership. Prior to leaving the mission in Zimbabwe, Gore claimed he was ”under security surveillance and bugging”.
”Regrettably, allegations made by Mr Gore were not substantiated and backed by concrete proof.”
Therefore, Jankielsohn and Gore, who voluntarily absconded from the mission, should compensate Parliament.
”Above all, the necessary censure should apply to members who disregarded the code governing the mission,” Goniwe said.
The Zimbabwean Electoral Supervisory Commission code of conduct for international and local observers contained no prohibition on communicating observations and opinions to the press, Jankielsohn said.
Also, the SADC code, in a section titled ”rights and responsibilities of SADC election observers”, stated observers had the right to ”unhindered access to communicate freely with the media”, he added. — Sapa