SADC processes will carry the day when it comes to decisions of the regional body and calls for change of the Summit venue are futile, a senior Government official has said.
In an interview with Star FM, the permanent secretary for Foreign Affairs and International Trade Ambassador Albert Chimbindi dismissed calls from opposition activists as well as South African opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, that Zimbabwe should be stripped of the rights to host the regional Summit scheduled for August 17-18 at the New Parliament Building in Mt Hampden.
Ambassador Chimbindi said SADC has its processes and traditions that should be followed and no amount of pressure from those outside the regional bloc can change things.
"The matter is that SADC has processes and procedures as well as traditions that are there and ways of doing business. The SADC chair is chosen through a definitive process that is there and was established at the last Summit that Zimbabwe was going to take over from Angola, which is the current chair," said Ambassador Chimbindi.
He added that the decision made in Angola that Zimbabwe will be the chair of SADC still stands and current developments taking place in preparation for the Summit are a clear testimony that there is no going back.
"That decision has not been reversed and there is nothing that happened that would lead to the reversal of that decision. This is why you see that Harare is moving forward to prepare itself adequately to make sure that we have one of the most successful Summits ever.
"We are moving forward with the comfort and knowledge that SADC has processes that should be followed, of course, people can express their views on some of these issues, but the most important thing is that the procedures and processes of SADC will carry the day."
Ambassador Chimbindi expressed satisfaction with the just ended 7th SADC Industrialisation Week, which was a precursor to the main SADC Summit, saying the event allowed businesses and individuals to interact and showcase their businesses.
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"If you had the advantage of witnessing what took place at the 7th SADC Industrialisation Week; if you listen or get the feedback from those who participated, they have indicated that this was one of the best organised and highly attended SADC investment programmes.
"And also, if you look at the programme, it was meant to make sure that Zimbabwean business people had the opportunity to showcase what they can produce and services that they can offer to the region.
"Because of the way it was structured, we had all the investment promotion agencies from the SADC region and these were also presenting and showcasing opportunities present in their countries during the SADC Industrialisation Forum.
"The idea here is to say we inform each other of what we have and also inform our people of what is available through exhibitions. People can go and see what is produced in neighbouring countries and network to get to know what you can get from other countries and leverage on that to create value chains," said Ambassador Chimbindi.
Next week, Zimbabwe will host the 44th SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government where President Mnangagwa will assume the chairmanship of the regional bloc.
