JOHN DLUDLU: A secret Lady R report will not be in line with past practice
The country was not well served when Thabo Mbeki kept reports on Zimbabwe’s stolen elections under wraps
In 2002, after a violent pre-election campaign that claimed the lives of more than 100 opposition supporters, Zimbabweans voted in an unfair and unfree election after which Robert Mugabe and his Zanu-PF returned to power with a slim margin. Then president Thabo Mbeki appointed a judicial panel headed by Constitutional Court judge Sisi Khampepe to review the controversial election.
The Khampepe report confirmed what most observers, except Africa’s delegations, found: that the election was neither free nor fair. Mbeki, who was leading Africa’s efforts to resolve the worsening crisis in SA’s northern neighbour, read the report and then sealed its contents. After he was ousted in September 2008 his interim successor, Kgalema Motlanthe, followed suit, ensuring the report’s content never saw the light of day. ..
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