Southern African leaders meeting in Lusaka last week should have been more vociferous against human rights violations taking place in Zimbabwe, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Tuesday.
The London-based group accused Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders of wasting a crucial opportunity to give President Robert Mugabe a public dressing down and take steps to address atrocities in the country.
”It is particularly disturbing that SADC leaders continue to categorically fail in acknowledging the central role of Zimbabwe’s grave human rights crisis in the country’s political and economic collapse,” Tiseke Kasambala, a HRW researcher in Zimbabwe, said in a statement.
He said the summit had presented an opportunity to re-examine the negotiation mandate handed to South African President Thabo Mbeki, but this had been squandered.
President Robert Mugabe’s government has consistently come under criticism elsewhere for stifling democracy and overseeing human rights violations in the impoverished country, where he has also overseen a violent clampdown on the opposition.
This, and the allegation that Mugabe rigged his re-election in 2002, led to the West slapping a travel ban on the 83-year-old defiant ruler, and more than 100 other people closely linked to his regime, as well as investment restrictions.
Kasambala said SADC leaders need to ”establish clear benchmarks and a timeline for its initiative on Zimbabwe”.
”It is clear that the negotiations alone will not address the atmosphere of violence and impunity that has developed in the country. The people of Zimbabwe deserve much better from this regional body.”
The newly elected chairperson of the 14-nation block and President of Zambia, Levy Mwanawasa, who recently likened the situation in Zimbabwe to a ”sinking Titanic”, said at the end of the two-day summit that the problems in the country ”have been exaggerated”.
Proposed changes
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s Parliament was due on Tuesday to debate proposed changes to the Constitution, which the opposition claims are designed to enhance President Robert Mugabe’s chances in next year’s elections.
Amendments that are likely to be nodded through by lawmakers include provisions for elections for Parliament and president to be held simultaneously next year while the number of MPs will increase from to 150 to 210.
Mugabe, whose Zanu-PF party enjoys a commanding majority in Parliament, has said the changes are needed to save money, but the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) say that alterations of constituency boundaries will tilt the election further in favour of the president, in power for 27 years.
Under the changes, the proportion of MPs in rural areas — Mugabe’s traditional stronghold — will increase markedly at the expense of urban areas, where the MDC enjoys a majority of support.
Mugabe told the opening session of the National Assembly on July 24 that ”harmonising elections will reduce costs and enable government to focus more on developmental issues”.
The MDC and other opposition to the Zanu-PF, however, insist a completely new constitution, which should be approved in a referendum, is the only way to guarantee a level playing field in the elections that are likely in March.
Mugabe suffered a humiliating reverse in 2000 when voters rejected his plans for a new Constitution, which would have further concentrated power in his hands and has ruled out any repeat plebiscite. — Sapa-AFP