After a long and anxious wait for the Botswana Government to pronounce their official position on the just ended Zimbabwe Elections, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Phandu Skelemani has told the nation and indeed the world, the official position of Botswana Government.
“… It is the perspective of the Government of Botswana that in the context of the preliminary findings of SEOM [SADC Electoral Observer Mission] as well as the initial report of our own observer team, that there is a need for an independent audit of the just concluded electoral process in Zimbabwe. Such an audit will shed light on the conduct of the just ended election and indicate any shortcomings and irregularities that could have affected its result, as well as the way forward. This will ensure that all involved in future elections would be aware of what to look out for and that there is no repeat of the same,” said a statement by Minister Skelemani.
There is a general consensus among various observer teams that monitored the Zimbabwe elections that the Election Day was itself free of overt intimidation.
But as Minister Skelemani so rightly pointed out, elections are a drawn-out process, which starts and continues long after the ballot casting day.
Southern Africa Development Community has a set of rules and guidelines which clearly outline how credible elections should be held. These guidelines have been agreed by all member states, including Zimbabwe.
Having agreed to the guidelines it would be incredulous for Zimbabwe to always seek to be exempted from the same rules every time that country goes for elections.
We wholly endorse the Botswana Government position that Zimbabwe as indeed the rest of SADC should be held responsible for their obligations against those guidelines.
For the record, the criteria for credible elections under the SADC guidelines explicitly state that those elections should be: free, peaceful, transparent, fair and credible.
Clearly from the SADC statement, even before the Botswana government pronounced their own verdict, the recent elections in Zimbabwe did not pass the test.
By SADC pronouncement the Zimbabwe elections were free and peaceful.
Quite fairly, an appropriate question may then be asked what had become of the other three determinants.
It would be foolhardy; indeed a joke to say that just because the Zimbabwe election passed two of the five determinants, then it can be declared as valid.
As former Vice President and head of the Botswana observer team, Lt. General Mompati  Merafhe so succinctly captured it, it cannot be said that the integrity of the elections were above board.
“Some teachers will fail you in an exam if you get two out of five, hence the huge debate over whether or not elections will pass the SADC test,” said General Merafhe.
The Botswana Government has called for an independent audit. Given the sensitivity of the matter, the position adopted by Botswana Government is commendable indeed.
Some participants in the elections have pointed to numerous shortfalls and deficiencies, which in their view could have the potential to alter the outcome.
Because nobody has so far come forward to claim responsibility of the said defects, much less admit that they benefitted from the same; it is our view that nobody should have any reason to resist calls by Botswana Government for an independent audit.
The said audit, if adopted will go a long way to exonerate all players, both the losers and winners ÔÇô while also lending the much needed legitimacy and credibility to the apparent winner.
Zimbabwe is a sovereign state. That much was emphasized by both General Merafhe and Minister Skelemani. But Zimbabwe is also a member of the international community. This means that the country has international obligations. There are ethos and standards against which the country and its government has to abide by if it does not want to treated as a rogue regime.
SADC should for all intents and purposes strive to be relevant.
From where we are standing it would be impossible for the international community to take SADC seriously if the organization cannot bring itself to enforce or at the bare minimum insist on its member states upholding rules that have been voluntarily accepted upon.
Minister Skelemani has said Botswana will put her case at the forthcoming SADC Summit in Malawi.
Our hope is that no less a person than President Ian Khama will be arguing Botswana’s case given the importance of the matter.
By personally appearing before his peers, which he doesn’t do quite often, President Khama will be sending a clear message how strongly Botswana feels about the matter. He will also be able to rally the nation behind the official position of Botswana government on the matter.
