via President Mugabe leaves for SADC Troika – ZBC 19 February 2015
SADC Chairperson, President Robert Mugabe has left for South Africa to attend a SADC extra-ordinary Troika meeting in Pretoria.
The meeting is aimed at resolving political tension in Lesotho and assist the country deliver a credible election on the 28th of February.
President Mugabe, who is accompanied by Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramai, was seen off at the Harare International Airport by Vice Presidents Emmerson Mnangagwa and Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko, cabinet ministers, senior government officials and service chiefs.
The SADC Chairperson will meet other heads of state, Chairperson of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security (Troika), South African President Jacob Zuma and Botswana President Seretse Ian Khama as the regional bloc seeks solutions to Lesotho’s problems.
Lesotho goes to the polls on the 28th of February and SADC wants an environment suitable for the holding of a free and fair election.
The SADC leadership has already stressed its determination to ensure Lesotho’s elections go ahead as scheduled and that the current crisis is amicably resolved for the country to move on.
South Africa’s Vice President Cyril Ramaphosa, who was appointed by SADC to be the facilitator, recently indicated that issues around security challenges and the request for the regional bloc to provide material support for the elections will continue to receive the attention of the SADC facilitation mission.
A SADC Observer Mission team is already in Lesotho ahead of the elections to ensure adherence to the regional bloc’s principles and guidelines governing democratic elections.
A coalition government has ruled since May 2012, consisting of the three dominant parties, the Basotho National Party (BNP), Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) and All Basotho Convention (ABC).
Tension arose over the appropriate distribution of resources within the coalition government.
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