Delegates convening in Cape Town for the 118th Assembly were appalled at the unfolding drama surrounding the elections in neighbouring Zimbabwe. As soon as the Assembly began its business, it decided to issue a public declaration under the authority of the President of the Assembly, Ms. Baleka Mbete, Speaker of the South African National Assembly. The text was painstakingly drafted by a group chaired by South Africa and representing the parliaments of Botswana, Egypt, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Uruguay.
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The Assembly endorsed the declaration by acclamation on the closing day. The text reflects delegates’ deep concern that almost three weeks after elections were held in Zimbabwe the results had not been fully released. They called for their immediate publication. The people of Zimbabwe, they stated, had a right to determine their future through free and fair elections, as enshrined in all universal standards, and not least the SADC Principles and Guidelines governing democratic elections.
The members of parliament attending the IPU Assembly expressed their solidarity with the efforts of the SADC Heads of State to resolve the electoral stalemate in Zimbabwe, saying that should there be a re-run of the elections, continental and regional inter-parliamentary organizations such as the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) and the SADC Parliamentary Forum, as well as the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa (EISA) should be invited as observers, and that all observer missions should be afforded unimpeded access to the entire electoral process.
They also called upon the authorities to lift all restrictions on freedom of assembly and speech in Zimbabwe immediately. Parliament should be convened as soon as possible so that the people of Zimbabwe were not deprived of their rightful voice in the government of their country. The authorities were urged to exercise restraint in maintaining order. All parliaments, as institutions of democracy and oversight, were enjoined to continue to exert their influence until the matter was resolved in its entirety.
During the Assembly, the IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians reported on its work concerning several complains of violations lodged by members of parliament in Zimbabwe. For more than five years the Committee had been examining the cases of several former and incumbent members of parliament who had been targeted because of their membership of, and political activities in, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Attempts on the lives of members of parliament and attacks against them have remained unpunished, and police officials have mistreated and tortured members of parliament with complete impunity. The IPU has consistently urged the authorities to identify and prosecute those responsible for such crimes. As the situation in Zimbabwe clearly illustrates, impunity only serves to encourage perpetrators and ultimately leads to the breakdown of the legal fabric of society.
