Zimbabwe needs to cure the coup, and needs the African
Union to help with this, publisher and academic Ibbo Mandaza has said.
"It is true that the AU initially condemned the coup,
but it has said nothing ever since, not to mention SADC (the Southern African
Development Community)," he told a seminar on Zimbabwe's future, organised
by the South African Institute for International Affairs on Friday.
He said the AU’s Peace and Security Commission should
organise a meeting as soon as possible to discuss the coup and the implications
thereof, and how the AU could intervene.
Mandaza called the ousting of former president Robert
Mugabe last month a coup d’etat, even though the international community has
been hesitant in recognising it as such.
He said SADC initially wanted to see a transition
government in Zimbabwe, pending free and fair elections, but once Mugabe
resigned, SADC called off its planned meeting in Harare "as if that was
all they wanted to happen".
He said it was important for the AU, the European Union,
the United States and Britain to recognise that what happened was a coup and
that the current government, headed by President Emmerson Mnangagwa, was an
illegitimate one, or a "coup government".
He said the current government shouldn’t be allowed to get
away with the transfer of power that happened.
Mandaza also questioned the implications this would have
for South Africa’s relations with Zimbabwe. President Jacob Zuma publicly shook
hands with Mnangagwa when he was in Pretoria during the coup in Harare.
"In what capacity was Zuma shaking hands with Mnangagwa?," Mandaza
asked.
He said there was still a strong military presence in
Harare, and he speculated that Mugabe might be kept captive in his home.
"I wonder what would happen if Mugabe were to leave
for Singapore for his regular treatments. What if Mugabe, while out there, said
he was forced to resign, which he was? What would be the implications? Can we
explain why he is so closely guarded?"
Legal expert Kudakwashe (Kuda) Chitsike, Director of the
Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU), said the transfer of power was not done
according to the country’s constitution.
"Whether you like Mugabe or not, he was elected in
2013 and everybody accepted the election. You may not like the results, but he
was elected," she said.
She said SADC never had Zimbabwe as a priority and
rubberstamped the elections despite disputes and even violence.
Chitsike said Zimbabweans came out to march in support of
the coup because it was Mugabe being deposed. Even though Zimbabweans have
always been risk-averse because the military created fear, they came out to
march because the military gave them permission to.
Both speakers agreed that Zimbabwe needed to be demilitarised. News24
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