Namibia’s SADC Test
SEVERAL presidents and leaders of government of countries in the Southern Africa Development Community unsurprisingly pussyfooted around the controversial issue of Zimbabwe this week.
If SADC’s new chairperson, President Hifikepunye Pohamba, is to make a mark with his leadership of the regional bloc, he will have to pull the rest in a different direction.
He must nullify the policy of ‘quiet diplomacy’ and get President Robert Mugabe not only to re-affirm his commitment to human rights but to act in accordance as well.
The regional leaders left after issuing a communique in which they called on partners in Zimbabwe’s unity government to iron out their differences within a month.
We believe that there was initial reluctance even to give a deadline to the power-sharing government. There was also avoidance as leaders failed to take decisive action on Zimbabwe.
This includes making a decision on Zimbabwe’s defiance of verdicts by a regional court that ruled in favour of white farmers whose properties were seized under president Mugabe’s controversial land reforms.
Instead they shelved the issue by giving themselves six months to review a stand-off between the Zimbabwean government and the tribunal set up by SADC.
If Zimbabwe continues to show disrespect to the tribunal as they did over the past months, the body will increasingly be seen as toothless.
According to The Namibian’s sources at the summit, the leaders wanted at least a year to review the stand-off but this was later changed to six months.
The stand-off has taken eons longer than many expected and predicted and needs to be resolved.
As a result many in Zimbabwe have yet to feel and experience the return of their freedoms.
President Pohamba has a tough task ahead of him but it is an assignment he can either pass with flying colours or fail dismally, depending on his attitude towards tackling the ever-present Zimbabwe issue which is always on the SADC discussion table.
So far the President has made the right noises.
During the summit he said SADC must start meeting the set target deadlines, and implement all projects and programmes as per schedule.
Although the regional bloc had made some achievements, he added that challenges and constraints continued to curtail progress in the implementation of programmes.
His biggest worry was meeting deadlines and that is largely because the sluggish implementation is not monitored and tackled timeously.
“Failing to implement our decisions has the real potential of calling into question our commitments and may breed cynicism and frustration among the people of our region,” Pohamba commented further.
We have restrained ourselves from going into detail about all the protocols which member countries are failing to implement and decisions taken but not adhered to, but there is consensus that SADC has no chance of success if it continues to move at the pace it currently does.
Obstructionists seem to dominate discussions and decisions more. If President Pohamba want to have a successful term as chairperson, he must refuse to put on the blinkers his predecessors had in place.
We hope that Namibia can be seen to be rising to the challenge of a SADC under its chairmanship making concrete achievements in the region.
It is a fact that, if he fails to act timeously both history, and most particularly the people of Zimbabwe, will judge Pohamba harshly.