Zimbabwe

SADC Summit: A huge blow to democracy

On August 9, 2024, President Emmerson Mnangagwa assumed chairmanship of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) during a precursor event to the SADC Summit to be held on August 17, 2024, in Harare, Zimbabwe. The SADC chair presides over governance and functions of the sub regional body and has the power to provide policy direction.

Zimbabwe wants to shine: major roads in Harare have been resurfaced, event venues spruced up and streets cleaned of vendors. The capital’s airport has undergone a major touch-up and the parliament now features immaculate landscaping. But all that these cosmetic improvements do is to underline that which has not been upgraded, sanitised or beautified – human rights.

In the run-up to the SADC Summit, Mnangagwa’s government has upped its repression.  Human rights advocates and political activists face harassment, prosecution, persecution and incarceration. Civil society has been cowed as the government threatens its people with unspecified – yet presumably severe - action if they even attempt Kenya-style protests. Even the People’s SADC Summit’s organisation (a summit of civil society organisations in SADC countries) is at a low scale and will not be happening concurrently with the summit as per tradition: it had to be done a few days earlier for fear of being misconstrued as an affront to the government.

During Robert Mugabe’s close to four decades-long reign, Zimbabwe was a regional and international pariah. Now it hosts the SADC summit. Technically, this legitimises President Mnangagwa’s government despite having presided over an election condemned by international and regional observer missions, including SADC in 2023. But SADC has clearly turned a blind eye on this and moved on. It has chosen to remain oblivious of the human rights crackdown in Zimbabwe. That the summit’s theme is innovation, economic prosperity and development is quite befitting. It shies away from democratic and human rights issues bedevilling the region, for fear of poking the bear.

The summit begins in a sombre Zimbabwe, where more than 80 political activists are in detention on spurious allegations. Many Zimbabweans have chosen to be away from Harare during the summit days and those staying will be hiding in their homes. SADC leaders will be welcomed by ZANU-PF supporters who have been cleared to organise an “Anti-Sanctions-Protest’. But for many Zimbabweans SADC is the biggest let down, it has not held Zimbabwe accountable for electoral fraud, corruption and human rights violations.

Zimbabwe itself has indeed lost a critical moment to demonstrate its commitment to democratic values and regional leadership.