A two-day conference on 'Minimum Standards for Elections in Zimbabwe was held in Pretoria on 4-5 October 2004 to determine how the South African community can assist Zimbabwe in building a solid consensus on minimum election standards. Unfortunately, the Zimbabwean government and Zanu-PF decided not to participate in this conference and Mugabe declared that Zimbabwe is not bound by the recently agreed Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) standards and norms on free and fair elections.