Thousands attend COSATU demonstration at SADC summit
By Violet Gonda
16 August 2008

It’s reported that thousands of people from the South African Trade Unions and the civil society groups protested outside the SADC summit in Johannesburg on Saturday. The powerful trade union federation COSATU organised the mass demonstration that is calling for the total isolation of Robert Mugabe. The group said Mugabe is not the legitimate leader of Zimbabwe and should not be present at the regional summit.

Bongani Masuku, COSATU’s International Secretary told SW Radio Africa more than 5 000 people attended the demonstration. He said COSATU organised a march that unites the civil society on the issue of Zimbabwe and Swaziland, “because the two leaders remain the only undemocratic regimes in Southern Africa.”

The protesters marched to the summit venue waving red cards – the universally recognised football symbol for expulsion. The global campaigning organisation AVAAZ formed an internet ‘Red Card Campaign,’ to support the protest in South Africa. Thousands also joined the call to show their support for the people of Zimbabwe by sending a red card online.

Pressure is mounting on the regional leaders after talks between the Zimbabwean political parties broke down on Tuesday, resulting in the rivals being invited to the SADC summit. The weekend gathering is set to be dominated by the Zimbabwe crisis. But South Africa’s Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said the Zimbabwean political leaders were only scheduled to address the troika of the organ at the ‘summit level.’

The Pretoria News said SADC will endorse Mugabe's claim to be the legitimate president of Zimbabwe by excluding opposition leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara from its 28th summit. The paper said: “The endorsement will come despite the boycott by President Ian Khama of Botswana of the summit because of the invitation to Mugabe and in the face of several calls from organisations all across the region for the summit to declare Mugabe's presidency illegitimate.”