SADC must act to isolate Mugabe

But the special delegation of SADC foreign ministers and President Jacob Zuma’s facilitation team left on Friday without making any tangible progress. The beefed-up team failed to secure commitment from Zanu (PF) to uphold the SADC principles of democracy, restoring the rule of law and an end to political violence – because Zanu (PF) says no such thing is happening.

After three days of meetings with officials from Zanu (PF) and both MDCs, the team issued a communique calling on Zimbabwe to respect the power sharing agreement and to chart the roadmap for a new election. The negotiators were directed to meet on April 20.

Over the past two years, there has been no evidence at all that Mugabe or leaders of his Zanu (PF) party have tried to implement the power sharing agreement, nor has he done anything to satisfy the concerns of his SADC colleagues. The communique stopped short of criticising Zimbabwe for flouting the SADC power sharing agreement, which called for the return of the rule of law, guarantees of freedom of expression and a commitment to tackle violence and intimidation.

Victims of the terror in Zimbabwe said SADC’s intervention would do little to advance security or human rights. Political analyst Charles Mangongera said it would be interesting to see how the mediation developed.

Mugabe has previously ignored the SADC, and he will continue to ignore it now. He is notorious for wiggling out of deadlines,” he said.

Mugabe wants Zimbabwe to hold presidential elections this year and has said he will stand again for Zanu (PF) against former trade unionist and leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, Morgan Tsvangirai, and several other candidates vying for the presidency.

Patrick Chinamasa, Zanu (PF)’s chief negotiator, said the team presented a dossier to the SADC team. “We were invited to meet the facilitation team which was in town and we briefed them on the progress of our deliberations. We have handed over to them a copy of the signed review report,” Chinamasa said.

“We had invited them to meet us in the first week of May so that if there are any challenges arising from our two reports we could get their assistance to iron out any differences or to reconcile opposing points. I must say the deliberations have been going on reasonably well. Yes, there are differences of opinion over areas of politically-motivated violence, where we feel that our colleagues in the MDC are making unsubstantiated allegations of violence against them by Zanu (PF) members.”

But there is irrefutable evidence of Zanu (PF)’s escalating violence and intimidation. In the escalating crackdown on the MDC, dozens of its members, including Tsvangirai’s ally Elton Mangoma, are awaiting trial for a variety of charges brought by the Zimbabwe Republic Police.

A SADC country diplomat in Harare said: “A feature of the visit was that there was realisation by the Troika group of the conflict that exists in Zimbabwe, because on the one hand you have one side which believes in the law, and on the other a group that promotes its own illegal process.” A prayer for peace meeting over the weekend has been violently disrupted by the police just a day after the team left.

However, the crisis in North Africa is blowing the steady diplomatic march on Zimbabwe off the map. It seems Mugabe now believes, quite rightly, that the world’s attention is focussed elsewhere. Analysts say it is vital that the international community maintains a very tight focus on ensuring that the next elections are free and fair. It should begin by putting much more coordinated pressure on Mugabe to end the political violence, admit international election monitors and allow other political parties a voice.

As he has shown no sign of living up to any personal commitments he has given so far, that international pressure should be reinforced by personal sanctions, said a rights activist who declined to be named.

“Rhetorical pressure, demands and threats have had no impact thus far on Mugabe’s calculations. Specific actions like targeted sanctions, however, may be a different story, as the government’s abuses begin to have specific ramifications for those responsible.” He said SADC should act to isolate Mugabe, who has blatantly failed to meet its deadline for action.