Hon Chairperson, it's important that one understands, firstly, that we are doing things in the context of rules and regulations ... [Interjections.] ... and therefore there was a background of SADC principles on how the observation of the elections would happen. Secondly, there is the issue of the African Union and its principles around adherence to elections, and thirdly, there is South Africa's own observer analysis.
For the first time, you had at least 550 to 560 observers in Zimbabwe. Secondly, there were at least 60 observers from the AU; nine of them were there for a period of at least a month to two months. [Interjections.] Thirdly, South Africa had at least 120 members as part of the SADC mission. The issue here is that what the Leader of the Opposition in this House wants to see and what the rules and regulations are is fundamentally different. If, in the instance of the input that was made here, the intention was to find an alternative to an election, then the answer is no, we subscribe to the democratic process. There were problems and those problems were identified by SADC, including shortages and various other issues. We have identified these issues; we highlighted them and we made recommendations for them to be corrected [Interjections.]
The reality is that even the leader of the opposition in Zimbabwe has withdrawn a court challenge. Therefore, who of us is supposed to do it - unless we are not satisfied even with that particular issue? [Applause.] [Interjections.]