The issue of Zimbabwe is not going to go away anytime soon.
Regional presidents may look the other way as much as they want but Zimbabwe and the internal problems it has with its people and the region still beckon.
Zimbabwe is not going to be wished away by any country, organization or president.
Zimbabwe has never been like any other country in Africa. It has always been dealt with and viewed with a combination of fatal fascination and dismay, with conclusions that the abused Zimbabweans do not deserve any sympathy.
There is also international hateful jealous of sorts.
Almost every country in the world is host to a Zimbabwean. And this is not an accolade but a sign of the desperation of people who could be the best in Africa and could be competing with Europe and other nations on the international platform.
One thing that Africa can be proud of is the simple fact that Africans, colonial or thereafter, are hungry for their children to get an education.
There is a lot of professional ambition among the young of Africans. But there is also the corruption of young minds.
African leaders have always had the tendency to create organisations that prevent affected people from forming organisations, committees or groupings that espouse the oppressed people’s disappointments, expectations and intentions.
People in the SADC region do not see the irony in that Zimbabweans are clamouring for SADC’s protection from their own government yet SADC, as a useless public relations unit of African presidents, will not do anything, even if there is genocide.
SADC is so unconcerned that Zimbabweans do not care for its existence. Zimbabweans do care about what SADC says.
For many years, I have personally chastised SADC, questioning the purpose of its expensive existence while citizens of the SADC region do not benefit from its existence in any way.
The situation in Zimbabwe is dire and had we had a competent regional organization of stature, the government of Zimbabwe would have long been censured, even as far back as the times when Robert Mugabe was president.
For years, Zimbabwe has been on the decline as SADC watched. Even though Zimbabwe’s political and economic instability have always (and continue to) affect economic and political instability in neighboring countries, SADC and its member states preferred silence to dealing with the situation in Zimbabwe.
We have lost count of the number of Zimbabweans who are constantly being charged with attempting to overthrow Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government.
Because this government has failed in all facets, Zimbabweans are being arrested and charged with laughable crimes.
If we look back, we do not see any meaningful work done by SADC, or its stupidly named forerunner, the Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC).
This organization has shielded human rights abusers in the region but, on the other hand, has seen that the welfare of the presidents of these countries is maintained.
At no time did SADCC or SADC ever intervene on the side of the people in any of its member countries.
So, it amused me the other day when I learned that Zimbabwe’s Movement for Democratic Change, led by Mr. Nelson Chamisa, had sent emissaries to Lusaka, Zambia, to engage diplomats on the sidelines of the SADC Troika meeting.
Mr. Chamisa wants to engage SADC about the worsening situation in Zimbabwe and rightly so. Mr. Chamisa is keeping SADC in the loop although we all know that SADC is a public relations outfit for any president.
But my worry is that, for decades, SADC has always been an extension of the governments of the region. For many years up to this day, SADC’s mandate and priority has always seemed to be the protection of any leader, regardless of how they treat their people.
That political parties in the region waste their time engaging SADC on issues that SADC should have prevented from happening and that SADC wastes taxpayers money pretending to be concerned about regional ‘politics, defense and security’ when we all know that their main concern is the protection and survival of any incumbent president, is as ghoulish as that farmer who fries a baby got in its mother’s fat.
SADC has been disgusting for decades and has never shown an ambition to make a difference in the lives of the so-called ‘ordinary person’.
In African villages and traditions, responsibility is not bestowed on any person, not even on youngsters; it grows on them as they have a front row seat, observing how African elders solve conflicts within the community. It is a given, a daily witnessing of not being afraid of diversity, of taking chances, of showing confidence in oneself and one’s stature.
Fairness, decency and a strong will are expected from them and the youngsters delivered.
Every member of the community is valued in life and in death. We all grew up that way, even after returning home from school in foreign lands.
Who are these people at SADC who allow and smoothen the path for such ghoulish things to happen to people?
While the scriptures admonish us against cooking a young goat in its mother’s milk, we are left speechless as SADC does worse and not even worry about the consequences.
Not only that but Zambia chairs the SADC Troika on Politics, Defense and Security to which Mr. Chamisa’s party is taking its grievances. Zimbabwe is the Vice Chair of the same organ and will be taking over the chairmanship of the organ after Zambia.
This is the organization that is meant to solve disagreements with member countries.
The mere fact that a political party whose supporters have been so terribly brutalized and who continue to be arrested on frivolous charges of wanting to overthrow a government should turn to SADC for help or protection is an indication of the meaninglessness.
If this is not frying a baby goat in its mother’s fat, I do not know what it is.
What have the people done to deserve SADC?
