Some Zimbabweans have handed a petition to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Defense and Security chairperson and Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema.
They were protesting against plans by the regional body to give President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa whose re-election chairmanship was dogged by vast irregularities.
Below is part of the statement
Being Citizens of Zimbabwe
AWARE that Zimbabwe is a member state of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), having acceded to and ratified the SADC Treaty of 1992.
COGNISANT of the main objectives of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) as stated in Article 5 of the SADC Treaty (1992), which are mainly to oversee Peace and Security, democracy, achieve development and economic growth, alleviate poverty, enhance the standard and quality of life of the people of Southern Africa, and support the socially disadvantaged through Regional Integration.
CONCERNED at the growing human rights abuses and the shrinkage of the democratic space characterized by the criminalization of opposition activities and the arrests and detention of opposition leaders by the Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa led government in Zimbabwe.
ACKNOWLEDGING the adverse report adopted on the 31st of August 2023 by the SADC Election Observer Mission (SEOM) on the August 2023 Zimbabwe Elections, pursuant to its mandate per the provisions of the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections.
ALARMED by the continued cooperation by SADC member states with the Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa presidency and the inaction to address the government legitimacy question arising from a disputed and rigged electoral process in Zimbabwe.
DESIROUS of seeing the resolution of the perennial electoral and political dispute in Zimbabwe through sincere electoral reform borne out of an all-inclusive national dialogue, the restoration of fundamental civic and political liberties, and the unconditional release of all political prisoners.
NOW THEFORE, the petitioners beseech SADC, as represented by the Chairperson, His Excellency Juao Laurenco; the Chairperson of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defense, and Security Cooperation, H.E. Hakainde Hichilema; the Executive Secretary, H.E. Elias Magosi; and Member States, as represented by the 15 Heads of States and their Foreign Affairs Ministers, to consider the petition and pass resolutions aimed at enhancing democratic tenets in Zimbabwe, the resolution of the political impasse in the country, and the freedom of all political prisoners incarcerated by the government in Harare.
BACKGROUND: The present dispensation of the regime in Harare is born out of two events that are uncharacteristic of the guiding principles of the SADC Treaty and the Zimbabwean Constitution: firstly, a military coup that removed President Robert Gabriel Mugabe from office in 2017; and secondly, rigged electoral processes as witnessed in 2018 and 2023 under the leadership of Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa.
Post the stated events, there has been a wanton disregard for citizens’ political rights and freedoms in Zimbabwe. This has been characterized by the politicization of the military, the militarization of state institutions, and the use of repressive state apparatuses (police and intelligence services) to silence the opposition and civic society in the country.
The Zimbabwean government’s illegitimacy was given a new lease of life through a shambolic election in August 2023, in which there was rife intimidation, voter suppression, banning of opposition rallies, unfair state media coverage, manipulation of election results, and arrests of opposition campaigners and leaders.
The evidence contained in the SEOM report submitted to SADC by the Chairperson of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defense, and Security Cooperation is instructive on the character of the Zimbabwean election of 2023.
In order to silence dissent and resistance, the regime in Harare has employed unconstitutional tactics to thwart democratic and constitutional resistance to its illegitimacy.
This has been achieved through abductions, torture, illegal arrests, and the banning of opposition political activities. Further, the regime in Harare has engineered and caused several recalls from Parliament of democratically elected opposition Members of Parliament.
With the above background, your petitioners now seek that the Southern African Development Community, through its Member States, the Organ on Politics, Defense, and Security Cooperation, and its Secretariat take into account and consider the following issues for the restoration of the rule of law, legitimacy, and credible electoral processes in Zimbabwe:
I. Follow through on the SEOM’s report on Zimbabwe’s 2023 elections as adopted by SADC at the last Extraordinary Summit in Angola by facilitating an all-inclusive political dialogue with the objective of resolving the disputed 2023 election in Zimbabwe.
II. Facilitating dialogue on legal and electoral reform in Zimbabwe by the main political players and stakeholders and paving the way for a free, fair, and credible election in Zimbabwe.
III. Appointing a Council of Elders to mediate between the two majority candidates in the 2023 Presidential Election, that is, Advocate Nelson Chamisa and President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, to resolve the political impasse in the country. Ensure this process is implemented.
IV. Imploring the Emmerson Mnangagwa led government to uphold the citizens’ rights to political participation, freedom of association and assembly, and the right to demonstrate and petition government, among other fundamental human rights enshrined in Chapter 4 of the Zimbabwean constitution.
V. Imploring the Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa led government to release all political prisoners, which include opposition leader Hon. Jameson Timba and the seventy-seven (77) activists arrested on the 16th of June at a private residence in Zimbabwe.
VI. Postponement of Zimbabwe’s Emmerson Mnagngwa’s turn to the rotational SADC Chairmanship pending a resolution on the question of his legitimacy to govern.
VII. Putting Zimbabwe at the top of the Summit Agenda to address Zimbabwe’s political crisis.
WHEREFORE Petitioners’ Plea & Prayer is as follows;
1. That SADC and all Member States resolve and pronounce at the Summit and beyond, that Zimbabwe’s 2023 general elections did not adhere to the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections of 2021.
- That SADC resolves that mediation efforts must be undertaken in Zimbabwe with a view to resolving political conflict, averting civil unrest, alleviating economic collapse, and improving the livelihoods of the masses of Zimbabwe.
- That SADC resolves to mandate the Organ on Politics, Defense, and Security Cooperation to facilitate dialogue between Emmerson Mnangagwa and Nelson Chamisa, the major political players from the 2023 election, the Church, the Civic Society, and other political players for the development of a roadmap towards electoral reform and free, fair, and credible elections in Zimbabwe.
- That SADC places a demand on the Zimbabwean government for the unconditional release of Jameson Timba and all the 77 political activists arrested on June 16, 2024.
AND your petitioners, as duty-bound and in the spirit of patriotism, will ever pray.
Dated at Lusaka, Zambia, this ……………. Day of July 2024
