Tadonki was head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Zimbabwe, and he predicted a cholera epidemic and an unprecedented wave of political violence in the country in 2008.
In a landmark case that has raised questions about the UN’s role in the country, the UN tribunal in Nairobi, Kenya determined in February that Tadonki was unlawfully dismissed in March 2009. This was after the UN’s country chief in Zimbabwe at the time, Agostinho Zacarias, ignored his warnings because of his ‘close ties’ with ZANU PF leaders.
Zacarias is said to have known key ZANU PF chefs when they were in Mozambique during the liberation struggle.
Tadonki’s legal team submitted evidence to show that Zacarias’s friendship with ZANU PF politburo members like Nicholas Goche blinded his judgment over the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe, which resulted in the extremely violent and disputed 2008 election, as well as a cholera epidemic which killed thousands.
In a damning judgment showing misplaced priorities by its own humanitarian mission in Zimbabwe, the Tribunal said:
• “There was a humanitarian drama unfolding and people were dying. Part of the population had been abandoned and subjected to repression. The issue between Tadonki and Zacarias was to what extent these humanitarian concerns should be exposed and addressed and the risk that there was of infuriating the Mugabe government.”
• “This case has brought to light not only managerial ineptitude and highhanded conduct but also bad faith from the top management of OCHA.
• “This mismanagement and bad faith were compounded by a sheer sense of injustice against the Applicant who was hounded right from the beginning by the RC/HC for not doing his work according to the RC/HC’s methods but according to his own style of management and leadership.”
The Tribunal said Tadonki’s reports on the crisis in Zimbabwe “stepped on some big toes by stating the obvious,” and that his dismissal clearly showed that “humanitarian considerations only played second fiddle to political issues.”
Tadonki was awarded $50,000 in ‘moral damages’ and the Tribunal also referred Zacarias, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes and two other senior officials to the Secretary General of the UN for disciplinary proceedings.
“To be vindicated after all these years restores my trust in the United Nations institutions, and reminds me why we should all continue working to cooperate among the international community to protect the poor and the most vulnerable people,” Tadonki is quoted by Zambian Watchdog publication.
He said the reputation of the UN should not be tarnished because of the misconduct of only a handful of individuals.
His lawyer Robert Amsterdam told the Aljazeera news group that the Tribunal’s decision is significant and exonerates his client who had been “denied access to his pension and victimized every day.”
The UN said it intends to appeal its own tribunal’s decision. But Armstrong said the Tribunal took two years to reach its decision and that there was nothing for the UN to appeal.
Zacarias is now the UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in South Africa. We could not reach him for comment.
Journalist Peta Thornycroft who interviewed Tadonki during the 2008 crisis said it was clear that he was “another kind of UN voice. One that I was not used to in Zimbabwe.”
“He spoke so frankly and openly. He said the UN has been asleep in Zimbabwe for 30 years and he said it is shocking.”
Click here for UN Tribunal Judgment – SW Radio Africa News
Post published in: News