SW Radio Africa (London)
Tichaona Sibanda
6 November 2009
column
The regional SADC Troika summit held in Maputo, Mozambique on Thursday toughened up its stance on Zimbabwe by giving all parties the 6th December as the deadline to implement all outstanding issues.
The regional bloc, seen as sympathetic to Robert Mugabe for years, took a tougher line against him on Thursday after a ministerial report tabled at the summit laid the blame squarely on the non-implementation of the GPA as the root cause of the shaky government. But it did not specifically name Mugabe as being at the root of the problem.
The Maputo summit, which lasted nine hours, urged both Morgan Tsvangirai and Mugabe not to allow the situation to deteriorate any further. A communiqué issued at the end urged all parties to fully comply with the spirit and letter of the GPA and SADC summit decisions of 27 January 2009. Mugabe left the summit venue without speaking to journalists, reportedly angry at being given a deadline to comply with the GPA.
Intense power struggles between Mugabe and Tsvangirai have kept the unity government teetering on the brink of collapse since its formation. The MDC complains about violations of the agreement, political repression, disregard of the rule of law and human rights, continued farm seizures, media repression and Mugabe's refusal to adopt political and democratic reforms, including constitutional review.
Tsvangirai's spokesman, James Maridadi, told SW Radio Africa that the MDC leader was happy with the summit outcome, especially with the timeline given to resolve the issues by the 6th December. He said South African President Jacob Zuma will be visiting the country before the end of this month to monitor the dialogue between the parties.
'The Prime Minister did not go to Maputo to negotiate or re-negotiate. He was there to point out the failures of one party to implement the GPA. So he is happy with outcome,' Maridadi said.
He added; 'What the resolution of the summit means in simple terms is the appointments of the Reserve Bank Governor and the Attorney General will be dealt with by the principals in the coming days or weeks. They will also deal with the issues of the provincial governors, ambassadors and Roy Bennett.'
Many observers and analysts following the Zimbabwe crisis have long blamed SADC for not taking a tough stand against Mugabe's intransigence. Wilf Mbanga, editor of the weekly Zimbabwean newspaper, wrote recently that SADC was now part of the problem affecting Zimbabwe.
In an editorial in his newspaper, Mbanga said the regional body's leaders have 'demonstrated on numerous occasions that they are utterly spineless when faced with a recalcitrant Robert Mugabe on his anti-colonialism hobby-horse'.
'SADC is supposed to be the guarantor of the Global Political Agreement - but they have persistently sidestepped the MDC's legitimate complaints about ZANU PF's non-compliance while entertaining Mugabe's ludicrous "sanctions" posturing. Their pro-Mugabe bias is evident to all,' said Mbanga.
Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa director Ozias Tungwarara said it remains to be seen if SADC will finally take some measures against Mugabe if he ignores this latest deadline.
'SADC leaders stand accused of defending Mugabe to the last. I am not privy to what transpired in Maputo yesterday (Thursday) but it will be interesting to see what happens if Mugabe fails to comply again,' Tungwarara said.
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