the President to proclaim elections to be held no later than the 30th June. Mawarire made his claim under section 18 of the old Constitution. By the time the matter came to court it was heard by the Constitutional Court which was set up under the new constitution, the composition of which was largely influenced by ZANU PF. Predictably, by a majority decision the Court was in agreement with Mawarire’s claim, but stated that the election date should be set for 31st July. This controversial legal decision18 allowed ZANU PF to push ahead with its preferred date for the election, largely bypassing the requirements for consultation with other parties to the GPA, and the SADC demands for the full implementation of the agreement before elections. The immediate response of Lindiwe Zulu from the SADC facilitation team was that: With or without the court ruling, we are going ahead to meet the parties as the facilitation team ahead of the SADC summit which (decision) was agreed on in Addis Ababa. All parties have been invited. As the facilitator put it at the summit, we want the comfort of having a clear roadmap to the elections, with timelines agreed upon by the parties themselves. The ultimate is to have credible elections. We want to avoid the 2008 scenario.19 Zulu’s statement resulted in a hail of invective from ZANU PF spokespersons that continued past attacks on her and was a prelude to a major verbal assault by Mugabe himself. Party ideologue Jonathan Moyo, drawing on the language of sovereignty and constitutionalism, called Zulu’s comments an ‘attack on our national sovereignty’ and called on Zimbabweans to ‘oppose and reject this patronizing and illegitimate posturing by our neighbours.’20 Despite these attacks Zuma’s report to the SADC Troika on the 15 June reiterated the concerns of Zulu’s position. Noting that most of the areas agreed to by the GPA parties in July 2011 under the framework of ‘Zimbabwe Elections Road Map and Timelines’ had not been ‘adequately implemented’, Zuma reported that the proposal to hold the elections on 31st July ‘is fraught with legal contestation, political dispute and heightened tensions even within the Inclusive Government.’21 At the SADC summit held in Maputo on 15th June 2013, the regional group endorsed the report of the facilitator but acknowledged the ruling of the Constitutional Court. It                                                              18 For one of the many discussions of this decision by civic groups in Zimbabwe see D.Matyszak, “‘Before and After’: Old Wine in new bottles: The Constitutional Court Ruling on the election date.” 3rd June 2013. 19 Dumisani Sibanda and Everson Mushava, ‘Roadmap will decide polls‐Zuma.’ www.zimbabwemail.com/zimbabwe/17602‐roadmap‐will‐decide‐polls‐zumahtml Accessed on 06/06/13. 20 ‘Moyo and Mutambara blasts Zuma’. www.thezimbabwemail.com/zimbabwe/17616‐moyo‐and‐ mutambara‐savages‐zuma.html Accessed on 06/06/13. 21 Report of the SADC Facilitator, His Excellency, President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, President Jacob Zuma, at the SADC Extra‐0rdinary Summit, Maputo, Mozambique, 15 June 2013.   12