SADC must set roadmap for polls

Morgan Tsvangirai on Sunday called on the
Southern African Development Community (SADC) to urgently convene a summit
that should set a "clear roadmap" to fresh elections to choose a new
government to replace his uneasy coalition with President Robert Mugabe.

The SADC alongside the African Union is a guarantor of the 2008 political
agreement between Mugabe and Tsvangirai that paved the way for the two to
form last year a unity government that has been able to stabilise Zimbabwe's
economy but remains threatened by a dispute between the two former foes over
power-sharing and appointment of senior public officials.

"The party urges the immediate convening of a SADC summit to resolve the
matter which SADC summit should clearly discuss the road map to an election
and guarantees to the legitimacy of this election," said Tsvangirai who last
year temporarily suspended his MDC party's participation in the unity
government in protest against the arrest of his top ally, Roy Bennett.

Tsvangirai was speaking after a meeting of top MDC leaders to review
progress of the coalition government.

Bennett is accused of illegal possession of weapons of war and plotting to
assassinate Mugabe. He faces a possible death sentence if convicted.

But Tsvangirai says charges against Bennett are politically motivated and
false, and told journalists yesterday that the state's decision last week to
appeal against Bennett's acquittal by the High Court was part of: "ZANU PF's
(Mugabe's party) continued persecution and prosecution of Bennett