By Takura Zhangazha*
At the launch of his political party (Zanu Pf) manifesto for the July 31 2013 harmonized elections,
President Mugabe made some rather shocking remarks as regards the Southern African
Development Community (SADC). The statements may be forgivable given that they
were made within the context of our never ending electoral campaign season but
they would still warrant reasonable critique.
When President Mugabe intoned that SADC was
after all a membership organization and that Zimbabwe reserved the right to
withdraw its membership if it felt its rights as a sovereign state were being
violated, it was as though he was speaking about the Commonwealth or our
membership of some abstract nostalgic colonial organization. These same said publicized
opinions of President Mugabe, on the face of it, may appear to be fair
statements were it not for the fact that Zimbabwe owes components of its
liberation struggle and achievements to the then Frontline States and
subsequently the Southern African Development Coordinating Committee (SADCC, now referred to as SADC).
Given the fact that SADC is not an ahistorical let alone
simplistic geographical grouping of nations, President Mugabe’s statements were
unfortunate. Moreso because they are
statements that come from a liberation struggle icon not only in Zimbabwe but
also in the Southern African region. This is an important point to make because
even if Zimbabwe’s inclusive government was established via the facilitation
of SADC, the meaning of the political
importance of the latter cannot be downplayed on the basis of an ephemeral diplomatic tiff.
As has been widely reported in the media, when President Mugabe accused members of the
SADC facilitator’s mediation team of being ‘street kids’ he probably meant
President Zuma’s international relations advisor, Ms. Lindiwe Zulu. While one cannot argue with the President in
finding fault with the manner in which Ms. Zulu has conducted herself as
regards the Zimbabwean political impasse, the fact that he then had to intimate
that our country would possibly ponder a withdrawal from SADC was to say the
least, an overreaction.
Disputes with the SADC appointed facilitator’s
representatives cannot be allowed to undermine the historical political integrity
of SADC. Zimbabwe’s independence would
not have been won without our neighbours. Agreed the same can and should be
said for South Africa which has found itself in the unenviable role of a
post-colonial hegemon which attained its independence after a collective regional
putsch for the freedom of its people from the clutches of apartheid.
It is trite to note that the visionary leadership of the
late Samora Machel and Julius Nyerere as well as the living Kenneth Kaunda
remains evidence enough of the significance of SADC to Zimbabwe’s liberation as
well as that of the country with which President
Mugabe appears to have differences with (both as a facilitator and a pretender
to the Southern African political throne).
It therefore becomes important
to emphasise that Zimbabwe has an umbilical cord with the Southern African
region. It’s independence and that of those states that attained liberation
after Tanzania and Zambia was contrived from a unique African regional solidarity
that not only united liberation movements but the peoples of Southern
Africa. Dar es Salaam and Lusaka were
liberatory cities, not in and of themselves but more because the Southern
African peoples thought and felt them to be the cities of our liberation from
colonialism. It is therefore borderline (and can only be) moot to wish to
withdraw from a regional organization that represents our rich liberation
struggle history.
Perhaps latter day leaders do not understand this history
as much as President Mugabe given the fact that he too is a product of the same
said regional history of struggle. It is however key that the Zimbabwean President
understands that he is one of the key harbingers of this same said history
which he cannot dismiss with angst. All because of a regional facilitators assumed misdemeanors.
Southern Africa, when the truth be told, is the sum total of
its liberation struggle related historical past and its organic present.
To put
into the public arena, the thought of a Zimbabwean withdrawal from SADC is
thoroughly ahistorical and unfair to the narrative of peoples struggle
solidarity across borders. In contemporary
times, the revolutionary solidarity of old may no longer exist and neither is
the world as binary as it was during the Cold War. And frankly speaking, in our region national leaders will react differently to various issues
depending on their political aptitude as well as their domestic challenges. Whoever
they are and whatever their challenges they cannot easily dismiss the history
of Southern Africa’s people centered struggle for liberation and the attendant regional solidarity that
accompanied it.
It has been said elsewhere that South Africa’s president
Zuma may not have as nuanced let alone as organic a view of international
relations but that does not mean his perceived mistakes are tantamount to an
outright dismissal of the political significance of SADC. Indeed Zimbabwe has
been on the backburner of global and regional hegemons, but in the case of
SADC, no matter how upset we might get with whoever is interacting directly
with us, we cannot ever think of withdrawing from it.
*Takura Zhangazha writes here in his personal capacity
(takura-zhangazha.blogspot.com)
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