New SADC chairman sets off on wrong foot

By Violet Gonda
20 August 2007

Observers say Zimbabwe is “doomed” if statements made by the new chair of the Southern African Development Community are a reflection of the general attitude of the regional leaders. Despite the situation getting worse in Zimbabwe where thousands of people are fleeing daily to neighboring countries, mass starvation looms and people are going for days without water and electricity, Zambia’s President Levy Mwanawasa began his chairmanship of the SADC by stating: "We ... feel that the problems in Zimbabwe have been exaggerated. We feel they will solve their economic problems.”

But it was only in March that he described Zimbabwe as the “sinking Titanic” of the region. People had pinned their hopes on Mwanawasa who had been one of the few African leaders to make strong comments on the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe. So what has changed his mind?
Businessman Mutumwa Mawere says there is a tendency in Africa to look at problems as exaggerated and solutions that come from within tend to be marginalized. “So according to SADC the problem in Zimbabwe is that colonialism has a lot to explain about what happens in Zimbabwe and nobody focuses on what Mugabe has done to create the current situation in Zimbabwe. So he is saying you are exaggerating because if you look at the core of the Zimbabwean problem you will find the British failing to pay for land reform. So the issue is, Zimbabwe is a victim.”

Mawere said colonialism was a fact but after 27 years of power the government needs to take responsibility for what it has done and feed the nation.
Sydney Masamvu, a senior analyst with International Crisis Group, described Mwanawasa’s statement as diplomacy being overplayed. He said if SADC is certain that the problems in Zimbabwe are exaggerated, why are they talking of an economic rescue package.
However the failure by the Heads of State to take strong action against the Mugabe regime at the just ended SADC summit in Lusaka has led some to question why the opposition is failing to put the message across to the African leaders.

Masamvu said: “There has not been a coordinated political approach which drives the point home, which brings the situation on the doorsteps of the SADC leaders. And I believe too much energy has been wasted by the opposition in terms of trying to resolve their internal differences rather than crafting and repackaging their message to really drive their point home especially on the African continent, where they are viewed with a lot of skepticism, that there really is a crisis in Zimbabwe.”
The analyst said the MDC has really done a good job of “preaching to the converted - the West - but he said the African continent is proving to be a different ball game. “It requires a different approach. A more nuanced approach to take into consideration the sensitivities surrounding the political parties within the Southern African Community, ” Masamvu said.
However other observers say no matter how much the opposition may change its “packaging of the struggle” it will still be an uphill battle to change the thinking and the mindset of the “African brotherhood mentality.”