SADC under fire for silence on Zim
Chakalisa Dube | Friday February 1, 2019 13:44
For years, the regional bloc has often been chided for playing a pedestrian role whenever Botswana’s neighbour underwent turmoil. Zimbabwe has experienced severe unrest since the beginning of the year, but SADC has largely remained silent on the situation.
According to media reports in Zimbabwe and information sourced from rights groups, 12 people have been killed in the wake of the January 150% petrol price hike that sparked mass street protests.
Police in Zimbabwe have also launched a manhunt for 27 individuals who the government believes spearheaded the unrest. Some of the suspected instigators are opposition members and human rights activists. It is reported that they have fled to South Africa. This is the worst unrest that the country has experienced since the political turmoil that occurred post the 2008 general elections.
Namibian President, Hage Geingob who is the SADC chairperson, was recently scolded by the media in his own country for remaining ‘largely silent on the Zimbabwe situation’.
On the other hand, Human Rights Watch has called on South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa to show leadership by insisting that the Zimbabwean government respect the rights of its people. Several people have reportedly been raped during a brutal crackdown by the country’s security forces following the protests.
In Botswana, one of Zimbabwe’s strategic partners, President Mokgweetsi Masisi appears to have thrown Khama’s megaphone approach outside the window in favour of silent diplomacy favoured by many SADC leaders (when dealing with issues affecting Zimbabwe).
Botswana does not have a well-defined foreign policy. The sitting President dictates terms on how the country interacts with foreign nations.
During Robert Mugabe’s reign only former president Ian Khama and the late Zambian leader Levy Mwanawasa were the loud critics of their Zimbabwean counterpart. Khama often made it clear that he will not be cowed into submission like other leaders in the region when Zimbabweans are suffering at the expense of Mugabe’s ruthless regime.
Zimbabweans have even said that majority of SADC states are bedfellows with the ruling ZANU PF, which is explained why they often remain silent whenever Zimbabwe is hit by waves of unrest.
Following the recent unrests (which are still continuing) some observers and opposition parties in SADC believe that the time for diplomatic niceties towards Zimbabwe is long past.
Some believe SADC needs to make life as uncomfortable as possible for Zimbabwe President, Emmerson Mnangagwa in order to force his regime to adopt practical and measurable strategies of attaining peace. This week international relations expert, Dr Gladys Mokhawa who is also a lecturer in the Department of Political and Administrative Studies at the University of Botswana (UB) emphasised that the SADC leadership needs to change tact and act decisively to help create conditions for peace and stability in Zimbabwe. “SADC has been unable to have a strong coherent position on Zimbabwe. Their so-called constructive engagement that they call quite diplomacy has clearly failed to secure sustainable solutions for Zimbabwe. A change in approach is not only necessary but urgent,” Mokhawa said yesterday.
“One of the reasons for SADC’s adoption of quiet diplomacy is often not linked to its long held tradition of offering solidarity to one another which is often seen by some critics as an excuse for refusal to condemn one another. Another school of thought why SADC continues to embrace quite diplomacy is that SADC has a culture of tolerance and leniency to violations of regional principles and norms.”
The UB academic also weighed on Masisi regime’s approach on issues affecting Zimbabwe. She said that based on past history the shift from megaphone diplomacy practised by the Khama regime to ‘silent diplomacy’ by the current government is not surprising as Botswana has always embraced silent diplomacy (before Khama).
She added that whether President Masisi will continue with the tradition of quiet diplomacy remains to be seen.
“There are, however, a number of diplomatic tools at the disposal of President Masisi’s administration that could provide a robust approach to Zimbabwe’s problems. Botswana could lead the region in canvassing for economic incentives that are badly needed in Zimbabwe. More importantly, Botswana can offer to assist in resuscitating the vulnerable institutions that continue to undermine attempts to solve problems in Zimbabwe,” she said.
On the other hand Mokhawa admitted that the current situation in Zimbabwe is very complex with shifting targets and multiple causes. “Any attempt (by SADC working with Zimbabwe) to resolve the problems will have to be carefully thought-out to ensure that the strategies that are instituted do not pose as much insecurity as they hope to solve.
“With that being said, a reform regime coupled with very hard decisions of austerity measures will go a long way in assisting at least the economic crisis, which once sorted possibilities of peace, can be salvaged,” she said.
The country’s main opposition party the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) recently urged the SADC leadership to act decisively to help bring peace and stability in Zimbabwe. T
he party also called on the Western governments to lift sanctions on Zimbabwe and support all constructive as well as genuine reform programmes in the country. Other opposition parties within SADC share similar views with the UDC. UDC spokesperson, Moeti Mohwasa said yesterday that Botswana’s silence on the current situation in Zimbabwe is worrying. “The government of Botswana should have released a statement by now condemning the situation in Zimbabwe and offering solidarity to the people of Zimbabwe,” he said.
Mohwasa added that the government’s silence means that it is complicit with what is happening in Zimbabwe.
“I also think that the government has chosen to remain silent because it fears that what it says may not resonate well with other SADC states and Zimbabwean leaders,” Mohwasa said.