recommended that the Government of Zimbabwe engage the Constitutional Court to seek more time ‘beyond the 31 July deadline’ for holding the Harmonised Elections.22 It was very clear that SADC, notwithstanding the warnings from Zuma’s report, was bending to Mugabe’s strategy, deferring once again to the issue of sovereignty around the Court decision. The Executive Secretary of SADC Tomaz Solomao made it clear after the Maputo summit that ‘decisions of the courts are to be respected.’23 The AU Chair Nkosozana Dlamini‐Zuma took the same position, also expressing the need to respect the rule of law and the judiciary.24 Following the summit, ZANU PF made a court appeal for an extension, designed to fail and submitted without the consultation of the two MDC’s. Predictably the Constitutional Court denied the appeal and the election date of the 31st July was confirmed, in the face of a clear lack of preparedness for the elections. As the International Crisis Group reported, the voters roll was in a shambles, the security forces remained unreformed, the public media was grossly imbalanced, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) was under‐funded and lacked time for preparation, and the ZEC failed to provide an electronic voters’ roll to all candidates before the election in breach of Section 21 of the Electoral Act. Moreover the voter registration process was ‘hampered by resource restrictions, showed bias against the registration in the cities ‐ especially Harare, and ended on 10 July amid protests.’25 This lack of preparedness continued to be a concern to the SADC facilitation team with Lindiwe Zulu once again voicing her concerns after the chaotic process surrounding the special vote organized for police in mid July, designed to allow police who would be on duty on 31st July to vote earlier. Zulu observed that, “We are concerned because things on the ground are not looking good,” stating also that Zuma had called Mugabe to tell him that he was not pleased with the run‐up to the poll.26 Mugabe responded angrily to Zulu’s statement, hurling insults at her: An ordinary woman says ‘no you can’t have elections on July 31.’ Really, did such a person think we, as a country, would take heed of this street woman’s utterances?27 Moreover in yet another display of political brinkmanship Mugabe threatened to withdraw from SADC if the organization ‘decides to do stupid things.’ The South African Presidency                                                              22 Communiqué: SADC Maputo meeting on DRC, Zimbabwe and Madagascar, Maputo, 15th June 2013. 23 ‘Elections: SADC will respect court appeal ruling.’ www.newzimbabwe.com/news‐11438‐ Elections+SADC+will+respect+appeal+ruling/news.aspx Accessed on 18 June 2013. 24 ‘AU chief wades into election date row.’ www.newzimbabwe.com/news‐11431‐ AU+chief+wades+into+election+date+row/news.aspx Accessed on 17 June 2013. 25 International Crisis Group, Zimbabwe’s Elections: Mugabe’s Last Stand. Africa Briefing No. 95, Johannesburg/Brussels, 29 July 2013. 26 ‘‘Zimbabwe Election ‘not looking good’, South Africa.” www.safpi.org Accessed on 22 July 2013. 27 Sibusiso Ngalwa, ‘Zuma’s envoy shrugs off Bob’s street slur.’ Sunday Times, 7, July 2013.   13