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SADC silent on abuses in Zimbabwe
Sunday Times (SA)
August 21, 2005

http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/Articles/TarkArticle.aspx?ID=1574516

THE Southern African Development Community refused this week to act on a devastating United Nations report on Zimbabwe, opting instead to give President Robert Mugabe a place of honour at its silver jubilee summit in Gaborone.

But if Mugabe thought the silence of his SADC peers signalled approval of his destructive social and economic policies, President Thabo Mbeki has since proved him wrong.

"A stable and prosperous Zimbabwe is critical to the integration of the SADC region," Mbeki said in his weekly online letter on Friday.

Then, in apparent reference to Mugabe’s intransigence, he added: "As members of SADC, we must be ready and willing to work closely together, understanding that we share a common destiny. It means that all of us must understand that what we do in any one of our countries has an impact on the rest. It means that, as countries, we will sink or swim together."

Mugabe, 81, was seated next to the incoming chairman and host, President Festus Mogae, for the opening of the summit and was extensively quoted in speeches recalling the SADC’s launch 25 years ago.

But while he could rely on the public solidarity of SADC, there was little warmth towards the man diplomats labelled the main obstacle to regional development.

And there were glimmers of a hardening attitude towards the one leader among them who has been unable to ride the wave of economic growth and increasing inter-regional trade.

Mbeki — who was seated next to him — and other leaders seemed reluctant to seek the Zimbabwean’s company. With no one obviously keen to chat to Mugabe, he entered and left alone, flicking his fingers or crunching his fists together until his knuckles audibly cracked.

A guest at Mogae’s banquet for the leaders said Mugabe ate largely alone and in silence.

"We tell them all the time that these economies are never going to take off until they deal with that man in the middle of the stage," said a diplomat from one G8 government.

He said that the SADC appeared poised to accelerate the implementation of programmes that could give the community international muscle.

Uncritical solidarity with a man perceived to be wantonly trashing a once thriving nation at the geographical heart of the community undermined that growing credibility, he said.

Officials from three of the SADC states said privately that concerted action against Mugabe was out of the question. Zimbabwe would be supported, cajoled and guided, but never castigated.

But all went on to say this did not mean Mugabe’s neighbours failed to recognise the threat his misgovernment posed.

Mogae refused at a news conference to acknowledge that anything was amiss, but his government is building an electrified fence along its border with Zimbabwe — ostensibly to contain foot and mouth disease but, many suspect, primarily intended to contain illegal immigration.

And though Mogae did not accept that the SADC had a duty to deal with Zimbabwe, he did add that he and Mbeki were talking directly to Mugabe and "offering advice".

"It [Zimbabwe] was not on the agenda, so it was not discussed," Mogae told reporters before the news conference was cut short as questions from the mainly black press corps focused on the failure to tackle Mugabe.

Mogae said the summit did not discuss UN Habitat Chief Anna Tibaijuka’s searing report on Operation Murambatsvina, Zimbabwe’s razing of homes that left 700000 without shelter or income.

She specifically urged the SADC to promote internal dialogue and human rights in Zimbabwe and to assist in the prosecution of those responsible for the man-made disaster. Mogae said the SADC would act on the report only if obliged to do so by a resolution of the Security Council.

"There is nothing that we don’t know about what is going on in Zimbabwe, but we cannot help until the person who needs help admits he has a problem. The affected party does not see a crisis, it sees interference," one South African diplomat told the Sunday Times.

•Claire Keeton reports that delivering aid to destitute Zimbabweans is proving difficult for humanitarian groups, which fear a backlash from the Zimbabwean government.

A Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights’ spokesman, Otto Saki, said: "There are a lot of bureaucratic hurdles and delays that make it virtually impossible to respond in time to people’s needs." He observed that these organisations had a "well-founded fear" that their charitable work would be restricted unless they kept a low profile.

South African charitable efforts have also run into obstacles.

The South African Council of Churches deputy general secretary Eddie Makue said on Friday that they were still involved in sensitive negotiations about the delivery of food to Zimbabwe. The churches have collected 37 tons of food but this consignment was yesterday still delayed at the Beit Bridge border post.

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