Failure to criticise the delay discredits SADC
leaders when they speak of democracy and peer review as regional principles.
With reports of increasing violence, murders, intimidation and arrests of
opposition supporters, it is offensive for anyone to say there is no problem
in Zimbabwe. Mbeki does not seem to understand that.
It was encouraging on one hand that the summit in Zambia carried on until
the early hours of the morning, clearly showing there was much debate and
probably disagreement – but the final communiqué was ultimately very
disappointing.
The post-election evictions of farmers and farm workers, the arrests of
journalists and the violence being perpetrated against the opposition were
not mentioned anywhere in the SADC statement. One observer said this denial
was reminiscent of the time Mbeki denied that the AIDs virus existed.
Mbeki met Tsvangirai on Friday and was completely informed about the current
situation in Zimbabwe. He then met Mugabe on Saturday in Zimbabwe, passing
through on his way to the emergency SADC summit. Soon after meeting Mugabe
he made the statement that there was ‘no crisis in Zimbabwe’ and ‘we should
just wait’ for the results. Archbishop Desmond Tutu and ANC President Jacob
Zuma have taken a different line, calling for the urgent release of the
presidential election results.
The SADC leaders’ final communiqué commended Mbeki for his assistance in the
Zimbabwe crisis and ZEC for running peaceful elections.
Criticism of Mbeki at home started almost immediately after the summit
position had been publicised. The opposition parties in South Africa blasted
him for making South Africa the laughing stock of the world.
Reports quote Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille as saying; “Mbeki has
shown himself to be a lame duck president at home. He has now lost the
opportunity to show that he can be an effective leader in the region.”
Freedom Front Plus leader Dr Pieter Mulder is quoted as saying: “South
Africa is suffering irreparable damage on an international level as a result
of Mbeki’s disappointing and short-sighted handling of the issue.”
Leader of the Independent Democrats Patricia de Lille appealed to Mbeki “to
stop misleading the world, or, if there is something he knows about the
current crisis in Zimbabwe that makes him appear so relaxed, to take us into
his confidence and tell us what it is.”
Tawanda Mutasah, executive director of the Open Society Initiative for
Southern Africa, wrote that: “In the past eight years Pretoria has helped
sustain the dictatorship in Harare in a number of ways, including voting at
the UN Human Rights Council and its predecessor to block discussion on human
rights in Zimbabwe; seeking to block the expulsion of Zimbabwe from the
Commonwealth; certifying fraudulent elections in Zimbabwe as “legitimate”
and thus providing Mugabe with much-needed political oxygen in his battle
for electoral legitimacy.
Mutasa also criticised SADC, saying: “African and international leaders
should demand that Mugabe respect the will of the voters and that the rule
of law be restored in Zimbabwe. Mbeki should join these leaders in calling
for a genuine return to legitimacy in Zimbabwe through the creation of human
rights and democratic conditions such as Mbeki would expect in his own
country.”
Mbeki and SADC have never taken a tough line on Mugabe and Zimbabwe so
perhaps it was foolish to have expected otherwise in Zambia this weekend.
But the only thing Zimbabweans have left, is hope.
Post published in: News