Zambian President Hichilema Hakainde avoided meeting President Emmerson Mnangagwa for the second time in two months, this time by snubbing the recent SADC Summit held in Harare.
In July 2024, Hichilema had also bypassed a three-nation wildlife conservation summit in Harare, sending Minister of Tourism Rodney Malindi Sikumba in his place while Mozambican leader Filipe Nyusi and Mnangagwa attended.
As the outgoing chairman of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation, Hichilema was scheduled to preside over a meeting of the SADC Troika on August 16 at 4 PM, alongside the leaders of Tanzania and Namibia.
However, he opted not to travel to Harare, instead participating via video link from Lusaka.
The highest-ranking Zambian official at the 44th Ordinary SADC Summit on August 17 was Mulambo Haimbe, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
In preparation for the summit, Mnangagwa spent millions of taxpayer funds on road repairs and commissioned a Swiss company to construct luxury villas for regional leaders.
The villas were incomplete, and only a few leaders required overnight accommodation in Harare.
Many leaders, including South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa, Botswana’s Mokgweetsi Masisi, and Mozambique’s Filipe Nyusi, chose to arrive on the day of the summit, despite an official schedule stating they should have arrived by the eve of the event.
Tensions between Zambia and Zimbabwe escalated after Mnangagwa suggested during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in June that Zambia was being used by the United States to isolate Zimbabwe, infuriating Zambian officials.
Mnangagwa believed his comments to Putin were private; however, the Kremlin later released a transcript, and Russian state media journalists present at the meeting published a video of their conversation.
Zambia said Mnangagwa’s comments were “an unwarranted attack on the country’s sovereignty” and called for “urgent and immediate intervention” by the African Union and SADC to defuse the tensions.
While his regional peers attended the SADC Summit at the New Parliament Building in Mt Hampden, Hichilema tweeted images from his trip to Chienge in Luapula Province, where he participated in the Builile Traditional Ceremony of the Bwile people, hosted by Senior Chief Puta VIII.
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