SADC leaders meeting in Kinshasa, the DRC, resolved at the end of their two-day summit on Tuesday to call for sanctions against Robert Mugabe and his cronies to be lifted.While the state media in the country was quick to celebrate the decision by SADC as a diplomatic triumph for Mugabe, analysts said the plea by the regional bloc represented a false dawn for ZANU PF, as none of the Western countries were going to lift these targeted sanctions anytime soon.
The summit noted the progress made in the implementation of the global political agreement and called on the international community to remove all forms of sanctions against Zimbabwe, SADC said in its final communiqu.
This communiqu showed that SADC is fully behind Mugabes misrepresentation of the so-called sanctions on Zimbabwe, which are in fact targeted on the ruling elite.
New SADC chair, President Joseph Kabila, told journalists that considering the progress that had been made in Zimbabwe it was now time that sanctions were lifted. Kabila, who took over as chairperson of SADC during the summit, said if sanctions were not lifted, they would become an impediment to putting the political agreement into practice.
Mugabe reportedly impressed on his fellow leaders that Tsvangirai and the MDC have not done enough to have the restrictions lifted. But MDC-T senator for Harare East, Obert Gutu, said that no right-thinking person could assume that Tsvangirai would be able to just pick up the phone and instruct the international community to lift the travel restrictions and restrictive measures on the ruling elite.
The MDC is raising genuine and legitimate transgressions of the GPA. Both Gono and Tomana were unilaterally appointed by Mugabe in late 2008, long after the GPA had been solemnised on 15th September 2008, Gutu said.
For anyone to therefore argue that Gono and Tomana are not outstanding issues of the GPA is to completely miss the point. This type of sterile argument is completely lacking in both factual and legal support. This argument ought to be dismissed with the contempt that it deserves, Gutu added.
Former SADC chair Jacob Zuma kicked off the meeting on Monday by asking Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara to end a row over the power-sharing pact, that is holding up vital foreign aid to repair Zimbabwes battered economy.
Reports initially suggested that SADC would hold a special summit on Zimbabwe, so that the situation could be discussed in depth. But SADC made a U-turn saying it would ask the blocs Troika on Politics, Defence and Security (a much less influential organ) to review the cooperation between Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
Speaking to SW Radio Africa from Kinshasa on Wednesday, human rights lawyer Dewa Mavhinga said without fundamental reforms by Mugabe, there will be no reason for the international community to unlock aid or lift the targeted sanctions.
Its a hollow victory for Mugabe. As for SADC it is an embarrassment for the regional body because it all calls into question the credibility of the leaders in the face of the international community. The leaders have failed the Zimbabwean people once again by failing to take a very strong stance against something that human rights defenders call a rape of democracy in Zimbabwe, Mavhinga said.
Kenneth Meshoe, the leader of the African Christian Democratic Party in South Africa, criticized SADC and his country for supporting Mugabe at the just ended summit.
Addressing the South African parliament in Cape Town on Wednesday, Meshoe said SADC as a regional bloc had failed the people of Zimbabwe by focusing on protecting and defending Mugabe. He said the bloc should have demanded that Mugabe respects the rule of law, justice, democracy and human rights in his country.
The call by the SADC leaders comes amid deadlocked negotiations between Mugabe and Tsvangirai on key political appointments and ongoing concerns over human rights abuses.
The parties remain deadlocked over the appointment of the Central Bank chief, blamed for presiding over the collapse of the local currency, and the attorney general who continues to prosecute MDC supporters despite guarantees of political freedoms in the unity accord.
In a press statement on Tuesday Tsvangirai urged SADC leaders to closely monitor the progress of his power-sharing deal with Mugabe. He said he hoped all outstanding issues would be dealt with as a matter of urgency by the Troika, which will be chaired by the Mozambican President Armando Guebuza.
Post published in: Zimbabwe News