Southern African ministers are gathering to prepare for this week’s annual heads of state meeting amid demands for action to avert a humanitarian disaster in Zimbabwe and strengthen women’s rights in the region.
The 13-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) faces mounting international pressure to act against Zimbabwe, where the destruction of townships and markets has left an estimated 700 000 people without homes, livelihoods or both, according to a United Nations assessment.
The issue does not feature on the agenda for the summit on Wednesday and Thursday.
However, South African deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad told reporters in Pretoria that such matters are ”always discussed, if not formally then informally”, the South African Press Association reported.
Zimbabwe defends its demolition campaign — dubbed Operation Murambatsvina — as an urban renewal drive.
Opposition leaders, however, say it aims to break up their strongholds among the urban poor.
”The operation has displaced people and destroyed people’s lives and created a humanitarian crisis,” said Jonah Mudehwe, head of Zimbabwe’s National Association of non-governmental organisations.
He spoke at a parallel gathering of regional NGOs, where Zimbabwe trade unions and rights groups are lobbying for support for a communiqué they plan to submit to leaders at this week’s summit.
Details of the communiqué are still being finalised, but will include a demand that regional leaders press Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe to address the pressing humanitarian needs in his country, Mudehwe said.
Despite government pledges to assist the displaced, only about 100 new homes have been built, he said.
Among the worst affected by the demolitions are the sick, the elderly, women and children, according to ActionAid, an international development agency that surveyed 23 511 people in six affected urban areas in Zimbabwe.
ActionAid is calling for assistance for at least 24 332 children who it says are not attending school, 164 602 informal traders who lost their livelihoods, and 811 899 people in need of food because of the operation.
It also wants a resumption of treatment for HIV/Aids sufferers whose care was interrupted by the demolitions.
Meanwhile, a petition was handed over on Monday to SADC chairperson Navin Ramgoolam, Prime Minister of Mauritius, demanding a protocol for accelerating gender equality in the region. It was signed by 100 civil society leaders and regional groups.
The regional bloc adopted a 1997 declaration on gender and development, but the petitioners believe it has not achieved its objectives. Only South Africa and Mozambique have achieved the target of 30% female representation in Parliament, for example.
They want the declaration elevated to a legally binding protocol that will include new targets, such as appointing women to 50% of decision-making positions by 2010.
It would also require member states to guarantee gender equality in their Constitutions, take legislative action and allocate funds to fight gender violence, and ensure that constitutional law takes precedence over customary law.
The proposed protocol enjoys broad support and has already been endorsed by senior officials meeting in Gaborone last week to prepare the summit, said Sheila Tlou, Botswana’s Minister of Health. – Sapa-AP