Tomorrows SADC meeting to discuss the Zimbabwe crisis proffers a golden opportunity for the regional grouping to demonstrate to the world that it has the capability of formulating and implementing African solutions to African problems.
The Zimbabwe crisis is certainly an African governance problem that has been hanging around the neck of the regional body for far too long. It is now time to take stern measures to secure a resolution of the crisis to the satisfaction of the people of Zimbabwe and those of the whole region.
The Johannesburg meeting takes place soon after President Robert Mugabe admitted that it may not be possible to hold elections this year but next year. I have heard of slow learners, but this one takes the cake. A clear six months after first declaring that elections will be held in 2011, Mugabe has finally seen the light. Meanwhile, Rugare Gumbo has suddenly lost his tongue. This is just one of the numerous hazards of being a Zanu (PF) spokesperson.
Reports indicate that the Zimbabwean negotiators and the Zuma facilitators have finalized the much discussed roadmap to elections. Zanu (PF) had to be dragged screaming and shouting to the negotiating table to sign this roadmap. They argued that the Global Political Agreement (GPA) was an adequate roadmap, and that elections should just be held as soon as possible. They were seeking to get away with some of the tricky provisions of the GPA that require that power be meaningfully shared among the three political parties.
Good work by the MDC formations resulted in the SADC eventually seeing the light as the situation in North Africa and the Middle East was giving vent to the need for the resolution of the crisis in Zimbabwe. The SADC has the task of ensuring that the benchmarks included in the roadmap are attained to their fullest extent and with the full participation of all the participating political parties. This is not going to be an easy task given Zanu (PF)s well established intransigence. This is where the SADC will need to bare its teeth and snarl viciously at the former liberation movement.
The SADC will also need to ensure that all the reforms expected to be implemented prior to the holding of elections are undertaken to the satisfaction of all the three political parties. The SADC Troika meeting held in Livingstone in March gave Zimbabweans hope that the regional body was now beginning to show its teeth, especially against Zanu (PF). The Johannesburg meeting will need to maintain that stance for the sake of both Zimbabwe and the region.
Still smarting from the effects of the Livingstone meeting, Zanu (PF) is hoping that the Joburg meeting will not be as hard on the Mugabe party as was the Troika meeting. Fat chance! It is clear that Mugabe and his party are now between rock and a hard place. Sick utterances by securocrats are not going to be tolerated by SADC anymore. Members of the security structures of the state are just going to have to behave themselves or face the reality that they are not the governors of this country and will never be. The SADC as a regional body has categorically stated that it will not accept as a member, any government comes to power through undemocratic means.
The people of this country expect a lot from the SADC summit in Joburg tomorrow. They expect that the election roadmap will be approved and that a time frame will be put in place at that meeting. They expect that the benchmarks that have been set for the inclusive government to meet will be insisted upon by the regional body. It is, indeed, time for the SADC to show its teeth.