'Guarantor' SADC Ignores Zimbabwean Crisis

I think that anyone who has studied events in Zimbabwe over the past two or three years will agree that the government of national unity has not worked. Power-sharing in Zimbabwe is a myth and an opportunity gone begging.

The idea of power-sharing was first mediated by the South African President, Thabo Mbeki, and the, when he was replaced by Jacob Zuma, so that remit was transferred as well.

But neither Mbeki nor Zuma have been able to persuade Mugabe that with power-sharing has to come concessions. Mugabe has been very reluctant to give any concessions, and those that he has, have not been implemented.

Mugabe then stated that no more concessions would be given unless the targeted sanctions in place against him and his party members are lifted.

Jacob Zuma is a known fan of Mugabe, so he is not imbued with and urgency to resolve the stalemate. In essense, Mugabe holds his ground and there is nothing anyone can do. The old man of Zimbabwean politics has proved himself to be a worthy adversary.

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"South Africa and the international community need to acknowledge the power-sharing deal in Zimbabwe has failed to resolve the country's leadership crisis, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday.

"We have had no acknowledgement from South Africa, or any country, that the Global Political Agreement (GPA) did probably not resolve the crisis," organisation spokeswoman Tiseke Kasambala told reporters in Johannesburg.

"There have been no acknowledgements of the dangers being faced here... that this is a repeat cycle... of lack of accountability and justice."

There had been increasing political violence and human rights abuses in the wake of calls by Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe and his ZANU PF party to hold elections and bring an end to the coalition government."

For me, one of the most irritating aspects of the whole farce is the insistence that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) be viewed as the 'guarantor' of the agreement in place between Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara, but they have failed to ensure that the agreement leads to a peaceful resolution of the Zimbabwe crisis.

Members of SADC remain paralysed by the Mugabe threat.

"A Human Rights Watch report on the country stated the South African government and SADC countries had done very little to intervene in the country's crisis.

Instead, President Jacob Zuma and other leaders called for the lifting of targeted sanctions imposed by the US and European Union on Mugabe and his inner circle, arguing they were an obstacle to the progress of the power-sharing government.

"There is no longer a truce [in the government], but open violence," Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition spokesman Dewa Mavhinga said.

"Should the elections be rigged, which they will, Morgan Tsvangirai has called for a clean divorce from ZANU PF."

He called for intervention in the election process by South Africa, the Southern African Development Community, the African Union and United Nations.

"We need them to monitor the situation on the ground and make sure elections are free, fair and peaceful," he said."

Mugabe will obviously resist any intervention in the crisis, and objects to anything approaching the involvement of the United Nations as he says that they are supporters of the international travel sanctions against Mugabe and his followers.

Yesterday I wrote about the rights that any country has to restrict people from entering that country, and cited an example of the same rights that Mugabe uses in Zimbabwe. Two 'wrongs' don't necessarily make a right, but Mugabe ignores his own actions, preferring to place the pressure on the international community for their 'illegal' sanctions.

Robb WJ Ellis

The Bearded Man