ZIMBABWE will be on the agenda as Angola hosts a SADC troika double summit to assess the situation and evaluate the consolidation of democracy in the region.
This is according to a statement by the Angolan Ministry of Foreign Affairs released on Sunday.
There were no signs Zimbabwe shall be part to the proceedings.
The double summit, according to official communication, is meant to assess the situation in Lesotho and the DRC.
At the meeting, on Monday and Tuesday in Luanda, it was further announced, “the consolidation of democracy in the sub region will also be evaluated, especially in Madagascar, Swaziland, the DRC and Zimbabwe”.
However, with the SADC summit agenda, it does not seem the region has any plans to take any stance against the November 2017 ouster of Zimbabwe’s long serving President Robert Mugabe by the military.
With current President Emmerson Mnangagwa seemingly steering the troubled country back to some semblance of political normalcy, SADC, it would seem, has resigned itself to the popular military coup in one of its member countries.
During the height of the country’s political instability 2007, Zimbabwe became an almost permanent subject during SADC summits.
The meetings usually ended with mere communiques which never altered the status quo in Harare as Mugabe usually ignored recommendations from his peers to respect opponents’ rights.
At one point, Mugabe threatened to withdraw his country from SADC accusing his country’s neighbours of too much interference into his Zimbabwe’s affairs.
But events of November 2017 which saw the once feared leader placed under house arrest ignited fears of fresh unrest in the conflict prone country.
Attempts to convene an extra-ordinary summit to discuss the situation in Zimbabwe were immediately called off when there was a strange semblance of peace in a country that was under military control.
In later interviews with the media, Mugabe expressed disappointment with then South African President Jacob Zuma’s failure to take a stand against his ouster when the latter was SADC chair.
Mugabe’s backers, the now exiled former cabinet ministers Jonathan Moyo and Patrick Zhuwao, once threatened to mount an international campaign for the condemnation of the Mnangagwa government which they argued was illegitimate.
At a time the new administration remains unelected and with signs of military influence in government affairs, it would seem SADC has long shelved the political affairs of its troubled member to focus on more pressing matters in the region.
SADC executive secretary Stergomena Lawrence Tax was in the country last week where she congratulated Mnangagwa on being elected leader of the Zanu PF and becoming the country’s President.
She also praised Zimbabweans for managing the volatile political situation soon after Mugabe was elbowed out of his job.
