IMBISA

INTER-REGIONAL MEETING OF THE BISHOPS OF SOUTHERN AFRICA

ASSOCIAO INTER-REGIONAL DOS BISHOPS DA AFRICA AUSTRAL IMBISA CENTRE 88 BROADLANDS ROAD AVONDALE, HARARE. TEL NO: (+263-4)336775/336908 P.O.BOX EH 99 EMERALD HILL HARARE, ZIMBABWE FAX: (+263-4)336909

POSITION PAPER OF THE IMBISA BISHOPS FOR THE MEETING WITH HIS EXCELLENCY, PRESIDENT OF MOZAMBIQUE ARMANDO EMLIO GUEBUZA.

We the Bishops of the Inter-Regional Meeting of Bishops of Southern Africa (IMBISA), representing nine countries (Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Sao Tome e Principe, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe) are happy to be afforded the rare opportunity to meet with you. We have come to you to seek assistance in ensuring peaceful harmonised national elections in Zimbabwe this year. We have decided to make this request of you and other SADC leaders to avoid the rude awakening we had in 2008 when unprecedented violence was unleashed on the nation in the June Presidential run-off elections. The Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference (ZCBC) published a pastoral letter on 15 March 2013 in which they state that the national elections in Zimbabwe in 2013 are as important in determining the destiny of the nation as the elections at independence in 1980. In 1980 the country closed the door to colonialism and opened another to independence. In 2013 the country needs to close the door to political intolerance, violence, impunity, lack of transparency and accountability, intimidation, corruption and open another to a true democratic dispensation in conducting free and fair elections that respect the will of the people and uphold human dignity. The ZCBC pastoral letter goes on to quote the Ecumenical Discussion Document of 2006 on The Zimbabwe We Want which says, At the dawn of independence in 1980, a nation was born out of a protracted armed struggle and many years of pain, suffering and oppression. The ideals of the liberation war, of one person one vote and the yearning for freedom: freedom from oppression, freedom from racism, freedom from human indignity and violation, freedom from poverty and hunger, ignorance and disease coupled with the urgent and pressing need for the recovery and restoration of the land were the driving force behind the fight for liberation. Our new found national status amongst the family of nations created high hopes and expectations for a prosperous life. It was these ideals that fired our vision of a new Zimbabwe and unlocked the energies of people to work for a better Zimbabwe.

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In the first fifteen years or so of post independence, Zimbabwe made tremendous strides in almost all spheres of life. It was a country full of promise and indeed the envy of most of the countries in Africa south of the Sahara. . . . Zimbabweans enjoyed a great sense of patriotism and earned a great deal of respect from their peers on the continent and the world at large. Yet in 2005, Zimbabwe celebrated its Silver Jubilee of independence under the throes of a crisis, which persists to this day. The patriotic fervor, national pride and the once lofty and romantic ideals of independence seemed to be lost, at least in the considered view of many of our nationals, in the stark reality of a nation divided, traumatized and impoverished by this political, economic and social crisis. . . .This has manifested itself in the denudation of professionals and skilled personnel through a massive brain drain into the diaspora, . . . decline in agricultural and manufacturing productivity, . . . escalating corruption, flight of foreign investments, . . . declared and undeclared sanctions and dwindling tourist arrivals. These negative indicators have inflicted a heavy toll on the generality of the population. ( The Zimbabwe We Want). The country only started to recover from its woes in 2009 with the formation of the Government of National Unity (GNU), which brought back some measure of economic stability and successfully mobilised consensus around a new national constitution. It is our sincere hope that the new dispensation will enable the holding of free and fair elections in 2013. The elections since independence in 1980 have been marred by violence, reaching its darkest moment in the period leading up to the presidential run off elections of June 2008 where many were maimed and killed. We see the elections of 2013 as offering an important second chance to Zimbabwe which must be well utilized. We are therefore requesting if you could lobby the Zimbabwean government and ZANU PF in particular to: Make it compulsory for contesting parties to sign up for The Zimbabwe Political Parties Code of Conduct, Engendering Peaceful Free Political Choices, Engagement and Activities. The Code of Conduct is a good document produced by the Organ for National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration, but which has been left optional for political parties to sign up or not. We are also seeking your assistance in requesting for regional and international monitors and observers. Opening up our electoral processes to all will validate our resolve as a nation to do what is right and underline that we have nothing to hide and that there is nothing we shall do which cannot pass the test of public scrutiny. Most Zimbabweans have lost trust in the leadership and the electoral system. Adequate Monitors and Observers, if deployed three months ahead of the elections, can help restore peoples confidence in the plebiscite.

We would further request that regional and international monitors and observers remain on the ground for at least another month after the elections to minimize the possibility of violence after the elections.

Sorry to bother you with so many requests but Today the nation of Zimbabwe is at a cross-roads; a decisive moment, commonly called KAIROS in theological terms. We felt that as Church leaders in the SADC region we had to do something about the ongoing crisis in Zimbabwe and it is for this reason that we have come to dialogue with you. Your support can help to build a Zimbabwe that is free, tolerant, peaceful, prosperous and God fearing. Thank you.