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David Coltart correctly noted as such.

The ignominious exodus of Zimbabwean politicians and civil society members to Maputo was triggered by discourteous politicking fronted by a Prime Minister so badly addicted to hand-holding by foreign powers that he sees it honourable and admirable to elevate foreign influence to levels of political appeal courts — even to daringly ask Sadc to reverse a Constitutional Court judgement of a country he dreams of presiding over one day.

It is refreshing that Sadc executive secretary Tomaz Salamao has made it clear that Sadc would never create a precedent and disobey a court order.

The MDC leader and his secretary-general Tendai Biti are a funny duo in a very tragic kind of way. Biti is just a flibbertigibbet with an uncontrollable appetite for exaggerations, and his version of the recent Sadc summit’s communiqué on Zimbabwe is quite telling.

The execrable celebrations over a rather vacuous Sadc recommendation that the Zimbabwean Government should “engage” the Constitutional Court seeking a two week extension to the proclaimed July 31 election date may seem to carry semblances of political scores to others, but in reality Sadc simply said nothing while speaking — itself one key aspect of the art of diplomacy.

The African Union Commission chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma has already made it crystal clear that no other intervention can supersede the court ruling that the law abiding Zimbabwean President has already complied with.

The MDC formations went to Sadc looking for an October election, more for buying campaigning time for beleaguered and scandal smitten Tsvangirai.

For Welshman Ncube October is what he believes to be the longest he can stretch the sweetness of  political power — for him never a fruit of this undesirable democratic requirement called an election, a process that badly condemned him in 2008. Rather political office is to Ncube a negotiated predicament — one so much owed to Sadc that it can only be Sadc that can prolong the wildly exciting party Mugabe and his inconsiderate colleagues seem so keen to bring to an abrupt end.

The fact that such an end spells the birth of yet another political gig exclusively for Zanu-PF this time around is what has aroused the legal demon in Welshman Ncube — screaming and frothing all manner of legal harsh nothings in the vain-hope that someone might be scared or fooled.

Tendai Biti’s impassioned declaration of what he said was the Sadc communiqué over Zimbabwe was quite telling:

1) Government through the ministry of Justice is ordered and directed to make an application to the constitutional court following consultations by all political parties, seeking to move the date of the election from the 30 (sic) July 2013.”
The factual inaccuracy the statement carries is overwhelmingly shocking, especially for those that value decency. Here is the true statement from the official Sadc communiqué:

• 8.5 Summit acknowledged the ruling of the Constitutional Court of Zimbabwe on the elections date and agreed on the need for the Government of Zimbabwe to engage the Constitutional Court to seek more time beyond 31 July 2013 deadline for holding the Harmonized Elections.

Biti continued:

• . . . 2) that the agreed amendments to the electoral act which had been purportedly been made into law by the President using the Presidential Powers (Temporal Measures) Act be brought to parliament this Tuesday for debate and adoption.

There is simply nothing in the official communique about the said amendments. Even if there was anything, it is immensely puerile to imagine Sadc telling Zimbabwean parliamentarians to “debate and adopt” any amendments. What is the point of debating if adoption is a predetermined directive?
Wrote Biti:

• . . . 3) that the Sadc facilitation team and the troika team appointed in Livingstone sit in Jomic and not merely receive reports as demanded by Zanu-PF.

This is the closest the Sadc communiqué says in relation to Jomic:

• 8.4 Summit endorsed the report of the Facilitator and its recommendations which includes, among others, the following issues:

(iii) The role of the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (Jomic);

More so there is no Sadc facilitation team. Sadc has one facilitator Jacob Zuma in his personal capacity. The likes of Lindiwe Zulu do not have locus standi before Sadc, as they are Zuma’s own backroom runners.

Whatever the details in President Jacob Zuma’s report, the key word in the communique is these will remain mere “recommendations,” — hardly anything any lawyer worthy the name should be seen openly going hysterical about.
Biti then says:

• . . . 4) that an Inter-Ministerial Committee be appointed to deal with implementation of agreed issues on media reform and the monitoring of hate speech in all media.

While Tendai Biti could have borrowed this from President Zuma’s report, certainly there is no such recommendation or “directive” in the official Sadc communiqué itself.
And he had this to add:

• . . . 5) that the security forces publicly state or restate their commitment to the rule of law in particular their complete adherence to Section 208 of the Constitution.

Surely no sane foreigner wishing to be respected as a peace maker would fancy telling the security forces of another country what public statements to make, and precisely this is why there is no such thing in the communique.
Then goes Biti over what is clearly insurmountable:

• . . . 6) that within the time Parliament has remaining the parties negotiate and make the necessary amendments to Posa, Aippa, the Broadcasting Act, section 121 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act etc.

Just what were Tendai Biti and his colleagues doing in Parliament from 2008 up to now if all these laws remain unamended? And to imagine that Biti is saying Sadc wants all these amendments covered in eight weeks? If Tendai Biti seriously believes all these amendments will be done before August 14, he is either a blatant liar or a perfect fool. . . 7) that Sadc observers be deployed immediately consistent with the Sadc Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections.

This probably makes sense (apart from the atrocious grammar), but Sadc would not have recommended something that was already under way after President Mugabe proclaimed the July 31 election date. Salamao clearly says this was already under way.

8) that any other issue and the implementation of the above be overseen by the facilitation team.

If Biti fails to see the contradiction in a facilitating team “overseeing” the implementation of what they are supposedly facilitating he has no business playing negotiator for his MDC or masquerading as a high profile lawyer.
Tendai Biti then impetuously adds his trade mark indecorous commentary, writing:

• Theoretically Sadc have therefore effectively ordered a return to constitutionalism and not the current situation where hiding under the cloak of compliance with a court judgment illegalities and atrocities were now being committed.

Surely there is nothing illegal in President Mugabe complying with a court order, and certainly declaring an election date that is four weeks overdue is hardly atrocious from any number of angles; especially if the belated date is guided by the ruling of the country’s highest court. It beats logic to imagine a lawyer who believes that calling for an election after the expiry of another election term is committing an illegality, let alone an atrocity. But Biti is hardly a logical man.
Biti then does his melodramatic vainglory showering on the unassuming Tsvangirai:

• I have been to all summits on Zimbabwe since 2007 and they have been many. I want to thank and acknowledge the electric delivery of Dr Morgan Tsvangirai our party president, what a delivery. Simple, straight-forward, passionate and effective.I liked it when in his conclusion he asked President Mugabe why it should be about power and not the people. Save you made us proud today.

The only simple thing about Prime Minister Tsvangirai is his confusion, and one has to revisit the announcement he made on February 13 2013.

Voice of America reported, “Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai says the country will likely hold presidential and parliamentary elections in July, after voting on a new Constitution in March. The July polling would end the fragile three-year coalition.”

On the same day Tichaona Sibanda of SW Radio Africa also reported, “Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said Wednesday he expected presidential and parliamentary elections to be held in July after a nationwide vote on a new Constitution next month.”

It is a wonder why the same Tsvangirai went absolutely insane after hearing a July 31 election date proclamation. The only straight-forward conclusion to make is that the Prime Minister has no idea what he is doing. Talking of being passionate, perhaps the Prime Minister’s passion lies in his notable addiction to foreign opinion. Biti was unstoppable in his political ovulations over Tsvangirai’s contrived abilities:

• Perhaps the most marvellous thing was the tag teaming and complementarity between MT and Prof Welsh Ncube. I have seen Welsh in court and on countless times we have fought on opposite sides (of course he always lost). Today the man from Vungu fought like a lion .Whilst MT was the godfather speaking like a statesman Welsh was a bull terrier flooring Zanu(-PF) with erudite legal submissions.

Surely the only Zimbabwean thing that was floored in Maputo is our national pride and sense of sovereignty — thanks to Tsvangirai’s cowardly head and Welshman’S sorry excuses for occupying totally undeserved political office. Judging by what we read in the South African Press, President Jacob Zuma is hardly a statesman in the eyes of many of his own people, and it is interesting that Tsvangirai has earned “statesman” accolades from Biti for running to Zuma each time a fly passes through his face. Then Biti turns his imaginary tide against Zanu-PF:

• As for Zanu-PF, I think that the chaos faction of this party must take blame for humiliating and embarrassing President Mugabe the way they did today. He is clearly too elderly to be subjected to the barrage he faced today. Fortunately he quickly wisened to the folly of the chaos faction’s machinations and sclerotic schemes. He therefore quickly conceded to the need of a court application, thus saving summit of continuous further debate.

So Zimbabwean politicians went to Maputo to debate and celebrate the need for a court application seeking a couple of weeks extra to the ordered time-frame? Was this the sort of victory Tsvangirai and Ncube were looking for? Or was this Sadc’s way of making Tsvangirai and Ncube happy while allowing President Mugabe to carry on with the noble task of governing the country without undue noises from childish characters? Salamao makes this point very clear. He says election time for Zimbabwe is “now.”
The MDC formations are simply overwrought facing an election at this point in time. They can’t face the people and they do not want to do so. So Biti rants:

• I want to say that we Zimbabweans want an election yesterday. However it must be legitimate and credible.

The election must (be) on the people’s terms and not on the bloody hands of a cruel and horrible faction of Zanu-PF.”

Surely the people’s terms are that Zimbabwean elections are due end of June, and the people’s views are that the MDC makes no sense pretending to pursue reforms they blatantly left unattended for five years — all the time swimming in wanton profligacy. The people’s terms are that no manner of delays on the part of the MDC formations will stop the coming election — certainly coming in weeks and not months. There is only one credible election outcome expected by Zimbabweans, and that outcome scares Tendai Biti, and is nerve-wrecking for Tsvangirai. No one can delay a time that has come.

Zimbabwe we are one and together we will overcome. It is homeland or death!!

Reason Wafawarova is a political writer based in SYDNEY, Australia.