The DA makes this call following multiple reports of yet
another state-sponsored clampdown on pro-democracy activists by a paranoid
ZANU-PF regime, fearing public protests in the lead-up to the summit.
The SADC’s founding treaty mandates member states to act in
accordance with the principles of “human rights, democracy and the rule of
law.”ZANU-PF illegitimate regime in Harare has yet again violated these
principles with impunity in the lead-up to the summit:
Jameson Timba (an
opposition politician), together with 77 opposition activists, have been
detained, held in horrific conditions, and repeatedly denied bail after they
were arrested for allegedly holding an ‘unauthorised political meeting’.
Recently, 4 democracy activists were taken off a plane at
Robert Mugabe International Airport and charged with disorderly conduct for
being part of a protest that demanded the release of the 77 opposition party
members who have been in pre-trial detention for over six weeks.
By abusing state machinery to violate the rights of
Zimbabweans, the unrepentant ZANU-PF regime has demonstrated that it is
prepared to go to any lengths to violate the law in order to entrench its
authoritarian rule. South Africa, and by extension the SADC, have an obligation
to hold the Zimbabwean government to account.
Allowing the summit to proceed under the current
circumstances will not only endorse ZANU-PF’s flagrant abuse of international
law, but further undermine the principles upon which SADC was
established.President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s upcoming SADC Chairmanship is
testament to the continued failure of regional leaders to hold these political
thugs to account.
South Africa, as a leading member of SADC, must now take a
firm stand to uphold international law and advocate for the summit to be moved
to a location that upholds and respects democratic values.
This action would send a clear message that South Africa,
as a member of the SADC, will no longer tolerate the suppression of democratic
freedoms on our doorstep.
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