Rights Groups Call for Improvements as SADC Holds Summit

Botswana president Ian Khama is set to become the next SADC chair when Mr. Mugabe vacates the position.

Khama, diplomats said, felt Mugabe was not an exemplary leader and was against the regional body appointing someone who had given the region headaches over many years, the most recent being elections won in July 2013 amid systematic rigging claims.

President Mugabe said Southern African leaders such as former Zambian leader, Kenneth Kaunda and the late Botswana President, Seretse Khama made sterling contributions to the liberation of Africa.

Mugabe recalled how Khama senior lost his chieftainship because “like all young men, he fell in love”.

The AU chairman played a role in ensuring that al-Bashir flew out of South Africa, in defiance of the country’s High Court order which banned him from leaving the country until an application calling for his arrest had been heard, resulting in questions being asked about the continent and South Africa’s commitment to the rule of law.

President Mugabe also urged private sector to cooperate with respective governments in implementation of the stategy and the roadmap. “But today, it is as if, oh oh, they always were non-racial”, he said in a mock English accent to laughter from the audience. But I don’t say revenge. No. The police use outdated and abusive laws to violate basic rights such as freedom of expression and assembly and to harass activists, human rights defenders, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. Full of joy, the Africans are laughing and dancing all the time.

Khama said the current trade imbalances within the SADC region were reason enough for SADC to expedite and jump-start efforts towards industrial development, particularly with regard to the creation of value-chains.

Zimbabwe has, however, been so broke that it reportedly approached South Africa to host April’s extraordinary SADC summit, which was held in Harare in the end.

However, the outgoing Chairperson of SADC Council of Ministers said every year, the organisation is confronted with the twin realities of an ever expanding list of responsibilities against a background of dwindling resources.

Other more serious human rights violators are the authorities in Angola, Zimbabwe and Swaziland.

Dzamara mysteriously disappeared earlier this year in March following a campaign that called for change in Zimbabwe.

President Mugabe used the opportunity to commend the people of Zambia, Malawi, Namibia, Lesotho, Mozambique for conducting peaceful elections and proving enhanced democracy. His whereabouts remain unknown after he disappeared on 9 March 2015.

The SADC Council of Minister’s meeting precedes the 35th SADC Heads of State and Government Summit that will take place from 17-18 August 2015 at the Gaborone global Convention Centre (GICC) under the theme, “Accelerating Industrialization of SADC Economies Through Transformation of Natural Endowment and Improved Human Capital”.

In 2010, the SADC leaders suspended the tribunal and a year ago they divested it of its powers to adjudicate complaints by individuals and legal persons and also its human rights mandate.