IS SADC GIVING UP?

I have realised that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) no longer has the same punch it once had in dealing with the political crisis in Zimbabwe. Gone are the days when it imposed its toughness on the Zimbabwean President, Robert Mugabe and displayed that it will not tolerate the 88 year old leader’s behavior. Characterising its summit last year were media reports that former Zambian President Rupiah Banda even told Mugabe to “shut up and stop talking nonsense.”However a year after, the SADC seems to have lost its firm attitude towards Mugabe and his Zanu Pf party, Mugabe has once again emerged as the “hero” amid all the crisis. He has vowed that the elections are going to take place this year, with or without reforms and he seeks to dissolve the SADC proposed government of national unity, violence has been perpetrated in urban areas by the Zanu PF’s Chipangano group, 30 NGOs in Zimbabwe have been banned and journalists have been arrested. All these indications reflect that Zimbabwe is sliding further into an irresolvable political catastrophe and the SADC appears passive in all this. This can be a sign that the SADC is fed up with the ongoing squabbles between Mugabe and his Zanu pf party and the MDC parties. The SADC seems to be giving up and letting them to sort out their own problems.

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