Zim crisis faces being left off SADC agenda
By Alex Bell
16 May 2011
The Zimbabwe crisis could once again be bumped off the agenda of upcoming
talks by leaders in the Southern African Development Community (SADC),
apparently because South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma might not attend.
The SADC Summit is set to get underway in Namibia on Friday, but there has
been no confirmation that Zimbabwe will be on the agenda of talks. Dewa
Mavhinga from the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition told SW Radio Africa that
President Zuma, the regional mediator in the Zimbabwe crisis, “might not be
available because of commitments regarding municipal elections in South
Africa.”
“If Zuma is not available then the matter of Zimbabwe might be postponed,”
Mavhinga said, explaining; “There is a proposal on the table that the matter
will be addressed in Johannesburg on the 10th or 11th June.”
It will not be the first time that SADC has deferred dealing with the
Zimbabwe issue and Robert Mugabe. But a delay now will come as a serious
blow for everyone who has been pushing for the region to take a stand.
SW Radio Africa understands that SADC is jumping at the chance to delay the
Zim meeting again, because it simply does not know what to do.
SADC has been cautiously praised recently after appearing to change its
usually complacent tune towards Zimbabwe. A SADC Troika meeting in Zambia
had harsh words for the ongoing political stalemate, caused by ZANU PF’s
refusal to honour the Global Political Agreement (GPA). That Troika meeting
ended with what analysts said was, for SADC, a strongly worded communiqué
that called for an immediate end to violence and intimidation and also
resolved to create an election road map to guarantee a fair and free vote.
Mugabe left that meeting visibly angry, and his party has been lashing out
at SADC ever since. A ZANU PF politburo meeting last week moved to stall all
progress in creating the draft election roadmap, insisting elections will be
held this year. Observers have said ZANU PF’s behaviour is only isolating
the party further within the region, but there are still concerns that long
time allies of Mugabe’s will continue to support him in the future.
Mugabe has since embarked on a regional offensive, deploying envoys to try
and drum up support for his intention to hold elections this year. Analysts
have said that, if successful, this could divide an already fragile SADC,
with the likes of Angola’s José Eduardo dos Santos, Malawi’s Bingu Wa
Mutharika, Joseph Kabila of the DRC, Namibia’s Hifikepunye Pohamba and
Swaziland’s King Mswati III, likely to fight in Mugabe’s corner.
The Crisis Coalition’s Mavhinga said that there is still reason to hope that
SADC “will do the right thing,” insisting that the pressure on the region
must not wane.
“We are pushing SADC to put on public record its minimum conditions for
Zimbabwe, regarding the environment that must be created for a free and fair
election, regarding constitutional reform, regarding the serious issues of
security sector reform,” Mavhinga said.
He added: “Even if the matter is postponed, they must put this on record,
and indicate to the international community that they are in charge of the
situation.”
Meanwhile, it’s understood that SADC will be happy to delay the meeting,
while it tries to decide how to progress with the sticky issue of the SADC
Tribunal. The summit is meant to study a review of the court, which was
effectively suspended last year over Zimbabwe’s refusal to honour it’s
ruling on the land grab campaign. The Tribunal ruled in 2008 that the brutal
land invasions were unlawful and ordered the then ZANU PF government to
protect farmers. But Robert Mugabe and his party have repeatedly snubbed the
court, despite being a signatory to the SADC Treaty.
Last year a SADC summit decided to review the role and functions of the
court, rather than be forced into taking action against the Zim government
for its contempt. That review has since been concluded, and has upheld the
court’s decision.
But a recent SADC Council of Ministers meeting has come to a different
conclusion, insisting that the Court was not properly constituted and does
not have the jurisdiction to rule on events in Zimbabwe.
The SADC summit now needs to make a decision on the future of the court, one
way or another. Observers have said it is unlikely that the regional bloc
will take Mugabe to task over land seizures, and there is great concern
about what this will mean for the future of the rule of law in the entire
region.