By Lance Guma
Moeletsi Mbeki, brother to former South African President Thabo Mbeki, has blasted the Southern African Development Community (SADC) for failing to effectively deal with Robert Mugabe since 2000. According to a report in the NewsDay newspaper Mbeki was speaking at a SADC Council of NGO’s in Johannesburg, South Africa on Sunday.
Mbeki said he could not find anything that SADC has done in the past 31 years adding that “Zimbabwe was their single biggest challenge and it failed completely to deal with Mugabe.” Citing fraudulent elections since 2000 Mbeki asked: “Where was SADC? Protocols to sanction the government’s behaviour were there but never enforced.”
Mbeki said SADC was an ‘obsolete institution’ that could not influence change and he also questioned the purpose of civil society groups at the forum, telling them: “Your resolutions will not make a difference because SADC will not listen. Do you think you can influence Mugabe to follow the democratic path? Zimbabweans have been brutalised by state agents and the so-called war veterans.”
Mbeki also criticized remarks by Brigadier-General Douglas Nyikayaramba, who claimed Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was a ‘national security threat’ and that this was the reason the army was involved in politics. Mbeki said the fact that Mugabe had not taken any action against Nyikayaramba reflected badly on the goings on in the coalition government.
Moeletsi Mbeki, known in South Africa as a straight talker, also attacked SADC for suspending its regional Tribunal in May this year. Describing it as a ‘scandal’ Mbeki said the decision was made to appease Mugabe. In 2008 the SADC Tribunal ruled that Mugabe’s land grab campaign was unlawful, and ordered the government to protect farmers from future attack. The regime simply ignored the ruling. SW Radio Africa
