The chance of a free and fair election in Zimbabwe is ”good” if all the agreements reached as part of the political facilitation process are implemented, Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said on Monday.
”If they implement the laws that Parliament passed around security, information and media, and all those laws that the opposition wanted done and they all agreed [upon],” Dlamini-Zuma said in response to a question at a press conference.
”All those things should be implemented now in the run-up and during the election — if they implement then the prospects should be good,” Dlamini-Zuma said, referring to agreements between President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party and factions of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) as part of mediation effort by President Thabo Mbeki.
United States President George Bush, who is on a trip to several African countries, said on Sunday that Zimbabwe should hold ”free and fair elections” in order for its people to get a government that respects human rights.
Ahead of his trip he expressed disappointment, in comment made to the Voice of America, in Mbeki as a broker in the political stand-off between the political groups.
Zimbabwe is due to hold joint parliamentary and presidential elections on March 29.
Mugabe is seeking another five-year term to extend his 28-year rule of the once-prosperous Southern African country.
Rivals say his re-election would be a disaster for Zimbabweans who are suffering from an economic meltdown, highlighted on Thursday last week when Zimbabwe said annualised inflation topped 66 000% in December — a new record. – Sapa, Reuters