OPPOSITION MDC Alliance (MDC-A) president Nelson Chamisa has called for urgent Sadc intervention in the political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe, saying the deteriorating political, economic and social environment presents a major security threat to the southern African region.<\/p>\n
Regional political players and civil society are piling pressure on Sadc to intervene and find a lasting solution to Zimbabwe\u2019s deepening crisis, underlined by gross human rights violations, an economic meltdown and political instability.<\/p>\n
Despite the mounting pressure, Sadc at its annual Heads of States and Government summit on Monday did not include the Zimbabwean crisis on the agenda, resulting in sharp criticism by civil society organisations and a cross-section of Zimbabweans.<\/p>\n
In fact, a communiqu\u00e9 issued by the Sadc secretariat at the end of the meeting extolled President Emmerson Mnangagwa\u2019s virtues for \u201chis sterling efforts\u201d in ensuring peace and stability in the region and spoke of the need for Sadc member states to unite against external enemies, language synonymous with Harare\u2019s official position.<\/p>\n
In an exclusive interview with the Zimbabwe Independent this week the first locally since he took a long sabbatical after losing his mother last month Chamisa said although Zimbabwe was not included in the original agenda, he is reliably informed that the issue was raised in the meeting following a seismic campaign bringing the world\u2019s attention to horrific human rights abuses by the state.<\/p>\n
He, however, added that it would have been \u201cexpecting too much\u201d for Mnangagwa, who was the chairperson of the Sadc Organ for Politics, Defence and Security Co-operation until this week, to have put himself on the Sadc summit agenda.<\/p>\n
Zimbabwean citizens as well other influential African international personalities have been amplifying the Zimbabwe crisis through the online #ZimbabweanLivesMatter campaign.<\/p>\n
The campaign pushed South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to send special envoys to Zimbabwe in a bid to engage Zimbabwe\u2019s political players on the crisis.<\/p>\n
However, they only met with Mnangagwa and failed to meet with the opposition and civil society as had been planned after after the government barred them from doing so.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow that Mr Mnangagwa is no longer the chairperson of the Organ on Security and Defence, we remain hopeful that the new chairperson will consider the plight of the long suffering people of Zimbabwe and take active steps, as he is required by the sadc treaty and Protocols, and become seized with the fast deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe,\u201d Chamisa said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough Zimbabwe was not included in the communiqu\u00e9, it remains uncontested that the unfolding events in Zimbabwe were discussed. We know from past experiences that the communiqu\u00e9 does not often contain all matters discussed. Be that as it may, we remain convinced that sadc plays a significant role in addressing the Zimbabwean crisis.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo sane or rational citizen can argue that the current state of affairs in the country is not a threat to the security and peace of the people of Zimbabwe if not that of the sadc region. The political situation in Zimbabwe constitutes a clear and present danger not just to the security and peace of the people of Zimbabwe, but also to the region\u2019s peace and security,\u201d Chamisa pointed out.<\/p>\n
He said an economically and politically burning Zimbabwe sets ablaze its neighbours with its smoke choking the entire sadc region, adding that his party would continue \u201cto exhort and urge sadc to be truly a southern African people\u2019s union and not a trade union of leaders\u2019 blind solidarity\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Zanu-PF government accuses outside forces of interfering in Zimbabwe\u2019s sovereignty, working in cohorts with alleged local partners.<\/p>\n
But Chamisa said the concept of interference in the internal affairs of a country was an \u201carchaic and old-fashioned concept\u201d which had no place in the modern world in which nations or parties to various international treaties on various forms of human rights.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is the favourite shield of dictators desirous of being left to murder, abduct, abuse, wrongfully imprison and generally violate the human rights of citizens,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn our view, the international community has set up adequate international mechanisms to intervene in situations which threaten not just regional and international security and peace, but also internal security and peace. We need to go further than sadc treaty and Protocols to realise that the bloc has a right, in fact an obligation, to intervene in Zimbabwe when the internal situation in the country is deemed to constitute a threat to the security and peace of the region.\u201d<\/p>\n
The MDC-A has been challenging Mnangagwa\u2019s legitimacy accrediting the Zimbabwean crisis to the contested legitimacy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must have a national convergence and consensus on the problem definition, trajectory definition and destination definition in order to create a national galvanising moment and that necessary electricity to generate national progress,\u201d Chamisa said.<\/p>\n
\u201cZimbabwe must return to legitimacy and democracy. Legitimacy is not a pre-condition but a post-condition of any dialogue. A legitimate state must be the outcome of any genuine nation-building dialogue process.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the issue of Ramaphosa\u2019s envoys being blocked from meeting with other players exposed the Mnangagwa administration, as it gave the envoys a first-hand account of the challenges being faced when his party tries to engage in \u201cgood faith\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need our leaders to take strong leadership, especially over the problems in Zimbabwe, which have gone on for too long and are impacting neighbours in very negative ways. Our view is Zimbabwe is too big a problem to be delegated. It requires those who want to help to take a handson approach,\u201d Chamisa said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe like the fact that people around President Ramaphosa, including Ministers Naledi Pandor and Lindiwe Zulu have made it clear that there is a political crisis in Zimbabwe. We also noted the words of ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule pointing today the crisis here and for which he was attacked by Zanu-PF\u2019s Mr (Patrick) Chinamasa. This is a change of wind from the hesitation and reticence of the past. Everyone is fed up and when people are fed up, they act.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, we expect this process to lay the ground for us to walk into the path of economic progress. We are guided by long-term interests, not shortterm gains. If we wanted that we could have accepted the carrots that were being dangled in front of us after 2018. We rejected that because we appreciated that it was not the solution to our problems as a people. Zimbabwe must return to legitimacy and democracy through a credible dialogue process aimed at unlocking the crisis in our country stemming from a vicious cycle of contested elections since 2000.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
OPPOSITION MDC Alliance (MDC-A) president Nelson Chamisa has called for urgent Sadc intervention in the political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe, saying the deteriorating political, economic and social environment presents a major security threat to the southern African region. Regional political players and civil society are piling pressure on Sadc to intervene and find a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":25977,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,10],"tags":[113,88,585],"class_list":["post-26775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-parties","tag-chamisa","tag-mdc","tag-sadc"],"yoast_head":"\n