arrested on charges of terrorism and receiving training in insurgency and banditry in South Africa. Subsequently, a judge of the High Court determined that the State’s claim that they had a witness to the perpetration of the crimes (used as a basis for the refusal of bail) was false and that the person named to be such a witness did not exist as did not the farms on which the accused were supposed to have received training in insurgency and banditry. After the accused had spent several months in custody (some in the prison hospital recovering from the torture) the State thus quietly withdrew charges. In the wake of these events SADC mandated South Africa’s President Thabo Mebeki to facilitate dialogue and negotiations between President Mugabe’s government and the MDC. The South African government has been at pains to emphasise that President Mbeki’s role on behalf on SADC is facilitatory rather than mediatory. Furthermore, the talks are being conducted under a media blackout with no clear terms of reference. The position would be different, and to the benefit of all concerned if the Commonwealth were re-engaged with Zimbabwe. A Commonwealth underpinning of the negotiations would automatically mean that there would be a clear reference point for the direction of the negotiations – adherence to the Harare Declaration and benchmarks set by the Commonwealth, thus setting the stage for a more widely recognised legitimacy of elections scheduled for March 2008. At present the only objective of the negotiations appears to be that conditions are put into place to ensure that the elections are “free and fair”, with no parameters being set by which to adjudge that such conditions are in place. SADC members of the Commonwealth had a clear starting point for setting such parameters based on the Commonwealth’s previous deliberations and determinations on the Zimbabwe Question. However, in the absence of engagement by the Commonwealth on the Zimbabwe Question the issue was neither dealt with as a caucus at the SADC meeting nor underpinned by any recommendations or benchmarks from the Commonwealth. The danger is thus that the MDC will be compelled under SADC pressure to accept an election under conditions which fall far short of accepted Commonwealth standards but which SADC will endorse as “free and fair”. This was the scenario after the Zimbabwean government agreed to conduct elections in 2005 under recently agreed SADC Principles and Guidelines for Democratic Elections and such a scenario is in danger of being repeated. This reality also underlies the proposed actions for the Commonwealth in respect of dialogue and capacity building for civic groups, which is addressed below. 6.1.2 Dialogue & Capacity Building for Civil Society Since the withdrawal of Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth, the political and social importance of civil society in Zimbabwe, essentially encompassing the churches, trade unions 22