SADC Chair’s remarks trigger sceptimism

Zimbabweans have expressed their disappointment at Southern African  Development Community   (SADC) chairperson  and President  of Angola, João Manuel Goncalves Lourenco’s comments on Zimbabwe’s recently held election.

In his opening remarks  during the virtual Extraordinary Summit of SADC Heads of State and Government held on Tuesday, President Lourenço said the two countries were “orderly” in the way they conducted their elections

“Your Excellencies, allow me to congratulate President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe and His Majesty King Mswati III, the King of Eswatini, for the exemplary elections that were recently conducted in your countries.”

The summit will continue in person on the 4th of November in Luanda, Angola.

In a virtual discussion held on X yesterday  evening  themed, ‘SADC: Congratulations  Zimbabwe  for Holding  Exemplary Elections’ participants  said the remarks prove that the disputed elections have not been treated with the seriousness they deserve by the regional body.

Toto Soko said it takes a certain level of gullibility to believe that after the chairperson  of SADC has seemingly “endorsed” the  elections, the next session of the summit could have any different outcome.

“As a matter of fact, we will be  gullible  to  believe that anything  substantive could  come after  this because the  chairperson has endorsed  the harmonised elections which technically  means we met the standard for elections  and that he admires the manner in which we held elections as a country. However, we all know that we had flawed elections  as we had some polling stations opening  more than 6 hours  after the expected  time. There was harassment of observers and party activists were stationed at polling stations for purposes of intimidation.”

Another  participant,  Farai Shumba said the political  situation  in Zimbabwe  needs a stakeholder approach. 

“This is a board of friends who are trying  to protect  each other and  it is impossible  for them to issue  a serious  recommendation  because each member is thinking  of their own election which will be disputed  and they will need the back up.

 It is up to the citizens and other stakeholders,  to put pressure  on SADC  and demand  justice for their  efforts  because currently SADC does  not have the capacity  to call the Zimbabwean government to order in the same way Nevers Mumba did and he  is  bound to be dismissed as a sellout or an unpatriotic  African national.”

Speaking to Community Podium, political analyst  Effie Ncube said taking electoral dispute  to SADC members was bound to be a fruitless event as most of the leaders also won disputed elections.

“SADC as a region is being led by people  who  won disputed  elections  so they do not take the issues of free and fair elections seriously but they  become a group of friends who protect each other in cases of crises. Zimbabweans  must learn that in the political  battlefield, they are on their own. They must fight  the  political  injustice  at own capacity  because there is no saviour that will come to our rescue. As a region, we have normalised  disputed elections such that we sweep the disputes under the carpet,” he said.