Just recently, MDC-T president Morgan Tsvangirai begged the AU and SADC to help us out of the current economic mess. Didymus Mutasa went on a regional tour to lobby SADC countries against President Robert Mugabe’s treatment of senior members of the ruling party at last year’s congress.
One possibility is that those who have lobbied the two bodies are merely grandstanding. They are just making statements against Mugabe, his party and government and know that it will not yield any concrete results. In this sense, MDC-T would be content just to expose Mugabe as an inept president who lacks legitimacy to lead the two blocs as he currently does.
Hopefully, such a lobby would keep alive the debate about Mugabe’s suitability to lead the AU and SADC. Mutasa and others could also be complaining in order to be heard to be saying something, rather than as a way of pushing for real action.
The trouble is that they seem to be acting under the illusion that something positive can indeed result from their complaints. The truth is that the two bodies will never give Zimbabwe any relief. They have failed to do so in the past, they are not doing so presently, and there is therefore no reason to believe that they will do so in the future.
To start with, Mugabe is now the head of both institutions – even though this might only be for a year. For some unfathomable reason, they have put faith in him as a capable leader, even though evidence on the ground points otherwise.
There is no wisdom in assuming that, somehow, someone at either the AU or SADC will listen to their grievances and jolt Mugabe to act. This would be tantamount to admitting that they were wrong in choosing Mugabe as their chair in the first place.
The mere fact that he is now at the helm at regional and continental level is a deterring factor for rebel voices. They know they will be fighting a losing battle. The MDC failed in its attempts to lobby against Mugabe in Africa even when he was internationally ostracised. What could bring any chance of success this time around? We have to realise that change must come from within.
Post published in: Editor: Wilf Mbanga