PRESS STATEMENT BY THE BOTSWANA CIVIL SOCIETY SOLIDARITY COALITION FOR ZIMBABWE (BOCISCOZ)

BOCISCOZ urges genuine commitment to Zimbabweans at SADC Extraordinary Summit 9 November 2008

We, The Botswana Civil Society Solidarity Coalition for Zimbabwe (BOCISCOZ), join with regional SADC civil society in drawing attention to the SADC Extraordinary Summit to be held in Johannesburg on Sunday 9 November 2008.

This particular Summit provides a potential turning point towards the sustainable resolution of the political, economic, social and development crises in Zimbabwe.

BOCISCOZ calls upon our SADC Heads of State and Government to recognise that the Summit has to be accountable to the people of Zimbabwe and all of us in the SADC region. It should therefore place at the centre of its deliberations, the life experiences of the ordinary Zimbabwean living inside Zimbabwe as well as those forced by the ongoing crisis in governance, to live in other SADC countries. The latter have repeatedly expressed a genuine desire to return home. Let this SADC Summit begin the process to facilitate their return to a stable and safe Zimbabwe.

Any political dispensation mechanism or government collectively agreed to by all the parties, must be recognised as transitional and operating within a limited time-frame. Amongst its key concerns should be recognition and adoption of concrete steps to address the serious humanitarian crisis; the continuing violation of human rights through arbitrary arrests and detention of Zimbabwean citizens and a clear implementation and monitoring plan of the agreement acceptable to Zanu-PF and both MDC Formations.

In the event of no agreement being reached at the Summit, BOCISCOZ calls for free and fair elections to be held based upon the outcome of the Presidential elections results of the 29 March 2008. The electoral processes should be monitored by the UN, the AU and SADC from a period at least six (6) months prior to the election until after the election results have been released.

Due to the widespread intimidation and gross violations of human rights which occurred in Zimbabwe between the Presidential elections of 29 March 2008 and the Presidential run-off elections of 27 June 2008, BOCISCOZ believes that our regional leadership need to take a principled stand to ensure that the people of Zimbabwe are enabled to exercise their democratic right to vote and determine their future, in a secure environment.

7 November 2008

Gaborone