The Zambia Police Service (ZPS) reportedly barred Zimbabwean citizens from holding a demonstration in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, against the upcoming assumption of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) chairmanship by Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa next month.
The planned protest was scheduled to take place at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre in Lusaka on July 11 and 12.
According to Change Radio, the ZPS cancelled the demonstration under pressure from Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU PF party.
However, the report suggests that there is still hope that the Zambian authorities will allow Zimbabweans to exercise their democratic rights as SADC citizens during this Friday’s planned event. Reported Change Radio:
Today (11 July 2024), the Citizens delegation, led by Mr. Trust Ndlovu from South Africa, Mr. Chambara from Namibia, Mr Marufu from South Africa, Mr. Maphosa from Zambia, and Mr. Mavhoko from Botswana, successfully handed over the petition to the Zambian Permanent Secretary for onward transmission to His Excellency President Hakainde Hichilema.
The petition seeks to highlight the deteriorating governance and human rights crisis in Zimbabwe, for instance, the arbitrary detention of innocent citizens like Senator Jameson Timba and the Avondale 78 among others.
SADC should not hand over its chairmanship to Mr. Mnangagwa, who is Zimbabwe’s president through a shambolic election that the SEOM report highlighted.
Mr. Mnangagwa and Zanu-PF will feel vindicated, therefore continuing on the destructive path harmful to not only Zimbabwe but SADC as a whole.
SADC should facilitate dialogue to get Zimbabwe out of the perpetual governance crisis causing untold suffering to Zimbabwe citizens through economic mismanagement, among other problems.
The immigration crisis in SADC is a testament to the governance crisis in Zimbabwe.
A poster circulating online reads: “No to ED’s SADC Chairmanship. Zimbabwe is under a military dictatorship characterised by corruption, nepotism, poverty, and open repression. Let us rise up.”
Mnangagwa and the ruling ZANU PF party have made it clear that they will not tolerate any form of dissent or opposition ahead of the upcoming SADC Summit in August, where Mnangagwa is expected to assume the chairmanship of the regional bloc.
Earlier this week, the prominent human rights organization, Human Rights Watch (HRW), urged SADC to speak out against the intensified crackdown on the opposition and civil society organizations by the Zimbabwean authorities, ahead of the regional bloc’s upcoming summit in Harare.
According to HRW, since Mnangagwa assumed power through a military coup in 2017, his government has committed serious human rights violations and has demonstrated a failure or unwillingness to institute lasting human rights reforms.
The rights group called on SADC to use the Harare summit as an opportunity to address the deteriorating human rights situation in Zimbabwe and to press the Mnangagwa government to end its crackdown on dissent and uphold fundamental freedoms.
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