SADC fails Zimbabwe again

Zimbabwe Watch is deeply disturbed by the outcome of the Southern African heads of state and government meeting of 9 November in Johannesburg. This summit proposed an unworkable “solution” to the current deadlock in Zimbabwe in the form of a rotating responsibility for the ministry of home affairs while not addressing the current humanitarian and human rights crisis nor the fraudulent alteration of the original version of the “Global Political Agreement” between ZanuPF and the MDC’s.

According to Wellington Chibebe, Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) Secretary General “the two parties will never be able to work together because “like water and oil” they simply don’t mix and have a different agenda. Only a transitional authority to prepare for a fresh election is the solution to the political crisis.”

In the meantime the EU-SADC double Troika meeting held in Brussels on the 11 November 2008 noted SADC’s conclusions and called for the formation of a unity government as soon as possible while the EU Foreign Affairs meeting of the 10 and 11 November 2008 only considered Zimbabwe at the fringe of their discussions.“As stated by the ZCTU this is an unworkable deal resulting from a flawed and exclusive process. SADC’s proposal does not reflect the outcomes of the March elections and leaves MDC as junior party”, says Pascal Richard, coordinator of Zimbabwe Watch. “The conclusions of the EU-SADC meeting fly in the face of developments on the ground. There is a humanitarian crisis and no-one even pays lip-service to it.

At the same EU-SADC meeting support of 116 million Euro’s were confirmed for the SADC secretariat and another 300 million Euro's for the AU peace facility. It appears more and more bizarre to support institutions such as SADC when they simply do not have the political will to implement their own values and insure for example that the outcomes of elections are implemented. The EU must have some straight talks with SADC on how this support is translated in real deliverables on the ground for Zimbabweans and other SADC citizens.”