South Africa's DA says SADC Summit venue be moved from Zimbabwe following ‘clampdown’ on democracy activists

TAKUDZWA HILLARY CHIWANZA

South Africa's Democratic Alliance (DA) party has called for the 44th Ordinary SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government venue to be changed from Zimbabwe following what it termed a "clampdown" on democracy activists by the ruling ZANU-PF party, which is in no mood to entertain any form of protests against its legitimacy. 

These sentiments were echoed by Emma Louise Powell, a DA lawmaker and the party's spokesperson on international relations and cooperation, urging South Africa's Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Ronald Lamola to exercise the nation's right as a member of SADC and "urgently demand" that the SADC be moved to a different venue. 

The regional summit is slated to run from the 17th to the 19th of August, 2024.  

As the date for the summit is approaching, the government has turned to heavy-handed, brutish methods to thwart any forms of protests by opposition politicians and other democracy activists in order to maintain law and order; as well as a favourable outlook to fellow SADC member states.

Powell, in a statement issued on Friday, derided the ZANU-led establishment as "paranoid" and that it is a regime engulfed in "fear". 

"The DA makes this call following multiple reports of yet another state-sponsored clampdown on pro-democracy activists by a paranoid ZANU-PF regime, fearing public protests in the lead-up to the summit," Powell stated. 

She said that ZANU-PF has flouted the SADC's founding treaty mandate that demands member states to conduct themselves in a manner in accordance with the principles of "human rights, democracy, and the rule of law". 

Emma Louise Powell 

She highlighted the specific instances in which Zimbabwe's government has shown its avowed inclination to using brute force to quell dissent. 

She first pinpointed the continued pretrial detention of Jameson Timba – a senior opposition politician and faction leader of the beleaguered Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) – together with 78 other activists who were arrested for allegedly holding an unsanctioned gathering. She also referenced the recent shocking arrest of four democracy activists who were yanked off a plane at Robert Mugabe International Airport, and charged with disorderly conduct for being part of a protest that demanded the release of Timba and others from pretrial incarceration. 

"By abusing state machinery to violate the rights of Zimbabweans, the unrepentant ZANU-PF regime has demonstrated that it is prepared to go to any lengths to violate the law in order to entrench its authoritarian rule," Powell said, emphasising that South Africa and the SADC have to honour their obligation towards holding the Zimbabwean government accountable for its undesirable practices. 

"Allowing the summit to proceed under the current circumstances will not only endorse ZANU-PF’s flagrant abuse of international law, but further undermine the principles upon which SADC was established.

"President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s upcoming SADC Chairmanship is testament to the continued failure of regional leaders to hold these political thugs to account."

She concluded by stressing that South Africa, "as a leading member of SADC, must now take a firm stand to uphold international law and advocate for the summit to be moved to a location that upholds and respects democratic values".