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Brief report on the Windhoek SADC Summit of 20 May
Dewa Mavhinga
May 23, 2011

A large number of Zimbabwe civil society leaders converged on Windhoek to lobby SADC leaders - these included representatives from National Association of NGOS, Women's Coalition, Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, Zimbabwe Election Support Network and the National Constitutional Assembly. We held two press conferences on Zimbabwe on 19 May, one coordinated by SADC CNGO with a broader focus but also touching on Zimbabwe and the other coordinated by Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition exclusively looking at Zimbabwe and outlining key demands to SADC regarding pre-conditions for Zimbabwe elections.

ZANU-PF was also in Windhoek in full force, together with its quasi - NGOs intensely lobbying for SADC to reverse its Livingstone Troika resolutions and disband the Zuma Facilitation Team - particularly the removal of Ambassador Lindiwe Zulu from Facilitation Team. One ZANU-PF activist Goodson Nguni, who claimed to represent the All Africa Associations of NGOS (AANGO) was distributing a pamphlet titled 'The MDC and the Culture of Violence' which sought to blame the MDC for all violence in Zimbabwe. The ZANU-PF lobby in Windhoek was anchored on two threats: (1) That SADC is under attack from the West whose Trojan Horse was the SADC Troika hence the need to reverse Livingstone Troika Resolutions in order to keep SADC united, and (2) If SADC insisted on opposing ZANU-PF views, then Zimbabwe would be withdrawn from SADC in the same manner that Zimbabwe withdrew from the Commonwealth.

Although it was clear by the time of the Summit that, due to elections in his country, president Zuma would be unavailable, ZANU-PF strongly lobbied to have Zimbabwe on the agenda for substantive discussions arguing that the presence of the Facilitator was immaterial as SADC was supposed to receive the Zimbabwe report from the SADC Troika Chairperson - Banda of Zambia, and not from Zuma. This view was roundly rejected and the Zimbabwe matter was deferred for discussion by SADC leaders in South Africa on 11 June on the sidelines of the COMESA Summit. The SADC Communique had no single mention of Zimbabwe as a result.

Discussions with senior SADC Secretariat officials and regional delegates revealed a determination to deal decisively with Zimbabwe. ZANU-PF's regional tour that targeted Angola and Malawi was designed to break emerging SADC consensus on Zimbabwe and the need for free and fair elections run by independent institutions under the right conditions. Angola, Malawi and Namibia may pre-varicate, but so far the weak consensus has not been broken, mainly because of South Africa's strong stance which explains why ZANU-PF wants the Facilitation Team disbanded, and especially Ambassador Zulu dropped for the team.

Our demands for clear pre-conditions from SADC received wide coverage in local papers and on radio. State television gave generous coverage to ZANU-PF activists and ignored us.

On the day of the Summit, around 3.30pm - over a dozen Zimbabwe civil society leaders - we were distribution our press statements and reports on Zimbabwe in the venue of the SADC Summit at Safari Court Hotel when armed Namibian police and Zimbabwe security agents pounced on us - took away and destroyed our materials and forcibly ejected us from the venue at gunpoint - three of our colleagues were interrogated for over an hour while the rest of us were kept under armed guard some distance from the venue. Our hired vehicle was temporarily impounded. We were only released after the Summit had ended and only after the intervention of a local human rights lawyer - Norman Tjombe. We are confident, however, that this shocking contempt of basic rights by the Namibian police is not reflective of the general attitude of SADC.

The greatest blow from SADC was its stance on the SADC Tribunal - effectively killing the institution.

As we look ahead to the SADC Special Summit on Zimbabwe on 11 June we are planning to mobilize Zimbabweans in South Africa to demand action from SADC on the questions of violence, elections, constitutional and security sector reform ahead of fresh elections.

*Dewa Mavhinga is the Regional Coordinator, Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (South Africa)

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