constitutionally mandated duty to respect the fundamental rights and freedoms of all persons and be non-partisan in character; d) international observers, including from the United States, and European Union are permitted to observe the entire electoral process; e) candidates are allowed free and full access to state media, which must afford equal time and coverage to all registered parties, in an impartial manner, and must be able to campaign in an environment that is free from intimidation and violence; f) civil society organizations must freely and independently be able to carry out voter and civic education, and to monitor the entire electoral process. g) the president-elect is free to assume the duties of the office; In two sections 9 & 10 added to ZDERA in June 2018 20, Congress also provides guidance as to what it considers the Government of Zimbabwe should do to meet the conditions. These considerations are sometimes wrongly regarded as additional conditions. They are that the Government: 1) seeks to unify the people of Zimbabwe by: a) acknowledging that human rights have been abused, including during Operation Murambatsvina, and in the wake of the 2008 elections; b) undertaking a genuine process of national reconciliation up to and including acknowledging and apologizing for the Gukurahundi atrocities; c) taking steps to offer redress or compensation to victims of the above abuses; and d) ordering an immediate inquiry into the disappearance of prominent human rights activists, including Patrick Nabanyama, Itai Dzamara, and Paul Chizuze. 2) (and SADC) should enforce the SADC tribunal rulings from 2007 to 2010, including 18 disputes involving employment, commercial, and human rights cases surrounding dispossessed Zimbabwean commercial farmers and agricultural companies. It is often forgotten that ZDERA adopts a carrot and stick approach and not just the latter. If the conditionalities are met, ZDERA requires the United States executive director of each IFI to take proactive steps for the “restructuring, rescheduling, or eliminating the sovereign debt of Zimbabwe” held by the institutions and to propose that the IFIs “undertake financial and technical support for Zimbabwe, especially support that is intended to promote Zimbabwe’s economic recovery and development, the stabilization of the Zimbabwean dollar, and the viability of Zimbabwe’s democratic institutions”. Like the EU measures, ZDERA is thus not a trade embargo against the country, but applies conditionalities before the US will vote in favour of loans by IFIs to Zimbabwe, when these come up for consideration. The Government of Zimbabwe has, through the Transitional Stabilisation Programme (TSP), indicated that it will implement political reforms that will have the effect of meeting the requirements of ZIDERA, so it is unclear why it finds them objectionable. Paragraph 4 of the TSP, for example, lists among its objectives for “Vision 2030”: • Improved Governance and the Rule of Law. • Re-orientation of the country towards Democracy. • Upholding Freedoms of Expression and Association. • Peace and National Unity. • Respect for Human and Property Rights. 20 http://www.veritaszim.net/node/3753 . 7