MOSES MATENGA AND MOREBLESSING MARANGE
All eyes are now focused on Zimbabwe as the country goes for elections next week amid higher expectations of a peaceful process during and after the plebiscite.
The SADC and Commonwealth election observers arrived yesterday, as did former Mozambique President Joachim Chissano.
Former Zambian Vice President Dr Nevers Sekwila Mumba is leading the SADC Election Observation Mission to Zimbabwe.
“The mandate is to ensure that we stand shoulder to shoulder with our brothers and sisters here in Zimbabwe,” Mumba told journalists upon arrival at the Robert Mugabe International Airport.
“Zimbabweans will make their choice, we are just the eyes and we encourage peace.”
In dispatching the team to Zimbabwe, Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema who is the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security chairman said the bloc was optimistic for a peaceful and democratic process before, during and after the elections.
The SADC Observation Mission joins part of the EU Election Observation Mission that has been in the country for weeks now.
Amina Mohammed, the leader of the Commonwealth Election Observer Mission also arrived but did not speak to the media.
The campaign period has so far been peaceful except for a few pockets of violence including the recent killing of a Citizens Coalition for Challenge (CCC) activist in Glen Norah.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his biggest rival Nelson Chamisa have insisted on peace ahead of the polls while the police have also issued a stern warning against perpetrators of politically motivated violence.
Zimbabwe has had a “bad-boy” tag in the past elections with the 2008 runoff turning bloody.
