No country can move SADC summit from Zimbabwe despite political turmoil – South Africa
South Africa says it has no authority to tell the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to switch the venue of this week’s summit from Harare, despite the host facing criticism over opposition arrests.
The meeting of the SADC Council of Ministers takes place from 13-14 August 2024. A SADC Organ Troika Summit will also be held on 16 August 2024.
Ronald Lamola, South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, arrived in Harare on Monday. He will attend a council of foreign ministers to be held ahead of the main summit of Heads of State later in the week.
Police have detained over 100 people in the lead-up to the summit, accusing them of plotting protests to disrupt the event. Lawyers have detailed several cases of torture in custody. This has led to calls, including from political parties in both South Africa and Zimbabwe, for Zimbabwe to be stripped of the summit and denied the rotational chairmanship of SADC. This will not happen, says South Africa.
“The determination on who hosts a SADC Summit is a matter that is entrenched in the tradition of the regional organisation. Zimbabwe is the incoming chair of SADC, that means they host the summit. SA will have no authority to tell SADC that this summit can’t take place in Harare when Zimbabwe is the incoming chair,” Clayson Monyela, head of public diplomacy in South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation, told reporters at a briefing on Monday.
He added: “SA maintains that political challenges can be resolved by peaceful dialogue. All the issues that are being raised by activists and political organisations can be resolved by sitting around the table with the government of the day. SA will have no problem playing a facilitating role.”
Zimbabwe takes over from Angola as SADC chair.
The opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) has said it plans to hold protests on August 17, the first day of the Heads of State meeting at the summit. “The purpose of the public demonstration is to peacefully protest against the increased human rights abuses in the country characterised by continued arrests and detention of pro-democracy activists,” CCC convener Vincent Taruvinga said in a letter to police.
The CCC is also seeking a spotlight on SADC’s 2023 election observer report, which said some aspects of the August 23 election had fallen short of regional poll standards. As is standard, that report, along with reports of all other elections held in the region since the last summit – such as DRC, Eswatini and Madagascar – will be tabled at this week’s meetings. The reports only make recommendations for the countries involved.
“We will accept what we feel is relevant to us, and those (recommendations) that are not relevant, we will reject,” Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi has said.
-Newzwire
