A senior official of the Southern African Development Community said Monday that the regional organization has not yet set a date for a summit that will attempt to resolve the differences between Zimbabwe's reluctant power-sharing partners allowing the formation of a national unity government capable of tackling multiple crises.
But SADC Executive Secretary Tomaz Salomao said the organization has narrowed the venue down to South Africa, which currently holds the SADC chair, or Swaziland, which is chairing SADC's troika or committee on politics, defense and security - the SADC body which failed last week to bring about a compromise agreement in Harare.
The Movement for Democratic Change party founded by prime minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai has said SADC should lose no time holding the summit, but Salomao told reporter Ntungamili Nkomo of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that scheduling a summit is a complicated matter involving the schedules of 15 heads of state.
Chief power-sharing negotiator Welshman Ncube of the MDC formation led by Arthur Mutambara said concerned parties should not wait for SADC to come to Zimbabwe's rescue but should move ahead and take action on their own.
National Executive member Sam Sipepa Nkomo of the Tsvangirai MDC formation said SADC's delay convening the summit is exacerbating the humanitarian crisis.