SADC is a body of hypocrites
Mmegi Editor | Wednesday February 1, 2017 13:11
The poor Venson-Moitoi was kicked out of the contest in the first round. In July 2016,Venson-Moitoi emerged with the highest number of votes after the second round, but failed to secure the chair as she fell short of the required number.
This was not surprising because the ECOWAS bloc had abstained from voting reportedly in protest at the make-up of the candidates. The 15-member States SADC wrote a communiqué in September 2016 reiterating its support for Botswana’s candidate.
That was a set up as SADC is full of hypocrites. It was reported that South Africa, Namibia and Lesotho did not vote for Venson-Moitoi and it is now obvious that they punished her again.
President Ian Khama who is no fan of AU and has never attended a single meeting saw through this hypocrisy.
AU and SADC are clubs of dictators, warlords, terrorists and thieves who never criticise each other for anything. One can argue that, Botswana’s ‘roof-top’ diplomacy cost Venson-Moitoi the vote but somebody had to say something about bad governance in some of the African countries.
Each country has a unique foreign policy and Botswana is not an exception. For instance, SADC and AU have consistently pronounced elections in Zimbabwe as free and fair.
Only Botswana differed with AU and SADC observers that the elections in that former food basket of Southern Africa were not free and fair.
The former vice president of Botswana Mompati Merafhe who led Botswana observer mission to Zimbabwe about four years ago dismissed the so-called harmonised elections in Zimbabwe as a circus. Speaking during a press conference after the election, Merafhe [May His Soul RIP] said they were a circus.
The tough talking Merafhe said some of the five principles and the guidelines of SADC were lacking. He said although SADC has pronounced the July 31, 2013 elections as free and peaceful, the other principles were lacking. These are fairness, transparency and credibility.
He said Botswana as a country did not enjoy the fact that Zimbabwe was always on the agenda of SADC meetings. “We cannot be harping on one issue. Our lives are not dependent on Zimbabwe,” he said before adding that they cannot apologise for their statement.
At the same press conference a former Foreign Affairs minister said Botswana called for an independent audit of the Zimbabwean elections. AU and SADC cannot say this. Clearly, Khama was right, these bodies are mere talk shops that cannot investigate the ruling elites.
The betrayal by some SADC countries is an endorsement of dictatorship, corruption, terrorism and crimes against humanity that are rife in some of the African countries.
Today’s thought
“Civilisation must stand up and combat the current collapse of governance, the rise of violence, and the spread of chaos and fear in many parts of the world.”
– Rudy Giuliani