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Spotlight on Zimbabwe at SADC summit
MISA-Zimbabwe
August 15, 2007

"Mugabe gags us with the draconian Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), but we will speak out loud, we will defy, our voices shall be heard, free speech is our human right."

This is one of the messages posted at the Cresta Golfview Hotel as the worsening human rights situation in Zimbabwe takes centre stage at the 3rd Southern African Development Committee (SADC) Civil Society Forum which opened in the Zambian capital of Lusaka on 14 August 2007 ahead of the SADC Heads of State Summit.

The Forum comes amid reports that 65 Zimbabwean human rights activists headed for the SADC Summit had been denied passage to Lusaka and were being detained at Chirundu Police Station.

Speaker after speaker expressed deep concern over the prevailing situation with calls by participants to approach the Zimbabwean issue with a sense of urgency.

Addressing participants during the opening ceremony, the Secretary General of the SADC Council of Non-Governmental Organisations Abie Ditlhake, quoted former United Nations Secretary General Koffi Annan: "The ever-downward spiral of Zimbabwe is both intolerable and unsustainable, we all have a stake in resolving the crisis."

"But of major concern is the worsening social, economic and political crisis in Zimbabwe," said Ditlhake "We should be extremely concerned given the fact that most of the actions taken by the government of Zimbabwe since 2000 can be said to be enemies of human progress, and in the process authoring much monstrous cruelty against Zimbabweans, causing general inflammation and irritation in society and downright misery to the people."

Two main events on Zimbabwe have been organised to coincide with the summit. On 14 August 2007, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Regional Office in conjunction with MISA-Zimbabwe and MISA-Zambia hosted a cocktail for local and foreign journalists in Zambia. The cocktail was hosted to highlight the state of media freedom in southern Africa with particular attention on the deteriorating environment in Angola, Lesotho, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.

Mail & Guardian chief executive officer and publisher of The Zimbabwe Independent and Standard weeklies, Trevor Ncube was the guest speaker. Ncube urged the media to understand thoroughly the Declaration of Table Mountain adopted at the World Association of Newspapers Conference in Cape Town.

During the conference held in Cape Town, South Africa on 3 - 6 June 2007, participants stated that Africa urgently needs a strong, free and independent press to act as a watchdog over public institutions. Under the Declaration owners, publishers and editors also pledged to conduct "aggressive and persistent campaigning against press freedom violations and restrictions".

Plans are also underway to hold a cultural evening on 15 August 2007 dubbed: A Flight to Freedom. The event which is designed to highlight the deteriorating human rights situation in Zimbabwe and other countries, will be marked by live music shows, poetry, and traditional dances by artists from Zambia, Zimbabwe and Swaziland.

The SADC Civil Society Forum is also expected to discuss solutions to the Zimbawean crisis. Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights Executive Director Arnold Tsunga and National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) Chairperson Lovemore Madhuku and other prominent figures are expected to lead the discussions.

The Zambian media has also reported widely on the crisis in Zimbabwe.

On 15 August 2007, Yatini Community Radio Station hosted MISA-Zimbabwe Legal Officer Wilbert Mandinde together with McDonald Lewanika from Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition and Tendai Chabvuta from the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum in a phone-in programme where they explained the human rights, media and economic situation in Zimbabwe.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch, is urging the SADC Heads of State Summit to deploy SADC human rights monitors to independently monitor and publicly report on the human rights situation in Zimbabwe. Speaking on the sidelines of the Civil Society Forum, Human Rights' Watch's Zimbabwe Programme Officer Tiseke Kasambala urged SADC to ensure that the Zimbabwean government makes demonstrable progress towards ending human rights abuses and ensuring the rights to freedom of association and expression.

"With presidential and parliamentary elections anticipated for March 2008, the early presence of human rights monitors would be an important step towards creating an environment in which free and fair elections can take place and in which democratic institutions could be re-established in Zimbabwe," said Kasambala

Meanwhile, sixty-five Zimbabweans from various civic society organisations who were traveling to Lusaka were on 14 August 2007 refused entry into Zambia despite their having been cleared by Zimbabwean immigration officials to proceed accordingly.

No comment could be obtained from the Zambian immigration officials. It is, however, understood that permission to proceed to Zambia was denied after some of the participants who were traveling on a hired bus were seen wearing Save Zimbabwe Campaign T-shirts. The Zambian authorities reportedly feared that the Zimbabweans were planning to stage demonstrations in Zambia. Zambia has banned demonstrations during the SADC Summit.

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