SADC moves meeting to Zimbabwe rather than pressure Mugabe

By Violet Gonda
21 October 2008

On Monday Swazi King Mswati III told journalists that the emergency SADC summit on Zimbabwe had been postponed by a week and would be moved from Swaziland to Zimbabwe. He said: "(Morgan) Tsvangirai was supposed to attend, but due to technical problems, which have occurred from his side, he was not able to come. That's why the meeting is taking place in Harare."

The ‘technical problem’ was the fact that Tsvangirai does not have a passport.

Analysts say that once again the regional body has shown how it supports Mugabe, by failing to pressure him to give Tsvangirai a passport. Rather than do that they have moved the meeting from Mbabane to Harare.

Political analyst Professor John Makumbe said the technical problem was not caused on Tsvangirai’s side but by the Mugabe regime. He said this is an indication that SADC is “cowardly and frightened.”

“It therefore means if SADC is unable to apply pressure on Mugabe to issue Morgan Tsvangirai with the right documentation, how is it going to apply pressure on Mugabe to fairly and effectively allocate the ministries to the three parties involved in the negotiations?” the analyst asked.

On Tuesday the MDC threatened to boycott next week’s SADC gathering if Tsvangirai is not given his passport. A party statement said rescheduling the meeting to Harare may be in vain, as ZANU PF continues to show it cannot be trusted and that meaningful negotiations cannot proceed, particularly while Tsvangirai is held hostage and prisoner in his own country.

“The failure to issue a new passport to President Tsvangirai prior to next week's meeting will be taken as an indication that Zanu PF is not willing to proceed in the spirit of the agreement and therefore, the attendance of President Tsvangirai at next week's meeting will serve only to present a false impression of the relationship between Zanu PF and the two MDCs,” the statement read.

The Zimbabwean political parties had turned to SADC’s security body after they failed to break an impasse over the sharing of cabinet posts. Mozambique, Angola and Swaziland are the current Troika on Security.

Professor Makumbe says the SADC Troika is defective and undemocratic and it’s unfortunate that the crisis in Zimbabwe is happening when Angola and Swaziland are in the Troika, as they are the least democratic of countries with the SADC.

The outspoken commentator said that Mozambique is the only country in the Troika that can claim some movement towards democracy. He said like Mugabe’s ZANU PF which has been in power since independence 28 years ago, liberation movements are very allergic to handing over power.

Makumbe said: “The MPLA is still in Angola. It has never handed over power to a non liberation movement or non liberation political party. In Mozambique itself, FRELIMO is still in power since independence. It has never handed over power to a non liberation movement or to any opposition movement. In Swaziland there isn’t even a political party - what do they understand about the bargaining of political parties?”

However Makumbe believes Tsvangirai should not boycott next week’s SADC meeting, saying he should first exhaust the channels of negotiation given to him, so as not to give his detractors excuses. He said this has also the potential of giving “SADC enough rope to hang themselves and push the Troika to recommend the handing over of the issue on Zimbabwe to the African Union.”