Moreover,  the  Inception  Report  of  the  SADC  Electoral  Advisory  Council  (SEAC)  adds  a  further   dimension  to  these  protocols  by  extending  the  election  and  oversight  of  electoral  processes  in   Member  States.  Thus  amongst  other  recommendations  it  calls  for:     •   A  stronger  role  for  the  SEAC  throughout  the  election  cycle,  with  more  details  regarding  the  role   of  the  SEAC  during  the  pre-­‐election  period,  the  election  itself  and  the  post-­‐election  period,   including  the  importance  of  Goodwill  Missions  and  Pre-­‐election  assessments,  and  the  advice   that  will  flow  from  these  regarding  the  technical  requirements  for  the  SADC  Electoral  Observer   Missions.       •   The  recognition  of  the  imperative  of  Long  Term  Observer  Missions  aimed  at  complementing   Short  Term  Observer  Missions  and  addressing  gaps  identified  in  the  effectiveness  of  Short  Term   Observer  Missions  to  date,  indicative  of  a  more  holistic  conceptualisation  of  the  electoral  cycle   and  the  potential  for  conflict  dynamics  to  escalate  at  any  stage  of  the  cycle.38   It  is  clear  that  there  are  sufficient  grounds  for  strong  advocacy  and  lobbying  on  the  challenges   around  the  Zimbabwe  elections,  within  the  existing  and  propose  election  protocols  of  the  regional   body.  Thus  in  accordance  with  these  guidelines  the  Zimbabwe  Congress  of  Trade  Unions  called   upon  SADC  and  the  International  Community  to  ‘monitor  the  environment  right  from  the  voter   registration  process  until  after  the  announcement  of  results’.39      The  problem  at  present  is  that   Zimbabwe  has  fallen  off  the  SADC  agenda  since  the  2013  elections  and  the  end  of  the  SADC   facilitated  GPA.  At  present  there  are  other  more  urgent  crisis  that  appear  to  be  developing  in  the   region  such  as  the  problems  of  Swaziland,  Lesotho,  Zambia  and  the  DRC.  More  specifically  in  South   Africa  the  ANC  Government,  under  serious  pressure  due  to  accusations  of  state  capture  and   increasing  corruption,  has  also  resorted  to  the    language  of  ‘regime  change’  to  confront  both  its   internal  and  external  opponents.  In  his  presentation  to  the  ANC  National  Conference  at  the  end  of   June  2017  the  ANC  Secretary  General  warned  that  ‘regime  change,  as  an  agenda,  is  a  reality  facing   all  progressive  governments  in  developing  countries.’  However  he  also  presented  a  more  nuanced   position  on  this  issue  noting  that  concerns  about  outside  agendas  should  not  blind  the  ANC  to  the   real  domestic  problems  it  faces  in  its  own  party.  In  his  words:     A  narrative  was  developed  to  link  any  discomfort  with  the  influence  of  the  Gupta  family  to   the  regime  change  agenda.  While  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  regime  change  is  a  real   threat  that  needs  to  be  analysed  and  a  strategy  to  defend  the  country  and  the  movement   needs  to  be  developed,  this  cannot  be  used  as  a  response  to  the  perception  or  reality  of   corruption.  Both  objective  and  subjective  factors  in  this  regard  need  to  be  understood.40     The  ANC  must  be  reminded  that  it  needs  to  apply  the  same  nuanced  assessment  to  Mugabe’s  use   of  anti-­‐imperialist,  Pan  Africanist  and  anti-­‐regime  change  discourse  to  legitimise  the  undemocratic,   authoritarian  nationalism  of  Zanu  PF’s  politics  against  the  citizenry  of  Zimbabwe.                                                                                                                                                     38  SADC,  Inception  Report:  Development  of  the  SADC  Electoral  Advisory  Council  (SEAC)  Mediation   Strategy  for  Pre  and  Post-­‐Election  Related  Conflicts.  7  July  2016.     39  Information  Department  of  the  ZCTU,  ‘ZCTU  worried  by  rising  political  violence’,  Harare,  26  July   2017.   40  ANC  Secretary  General,  ‘A  Diagnostic  Organisational  Report:  National  Policy  Conference,  June  30-­‐ July  5th  2017.     12