South Africa’s main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), has urged the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to move its 44th Summit from Zimbabwe.
The DA, which is part of South Africa’s coalition government, made this call following the Zimbabwean government’s intensified crackdown on democracy activists.
South Africa’s main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), has urged the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to move its 44th Summit from Zimbabwe.
The DA, which is part of South Africa’s coalition government, made this call following the Zimbabwean government’s intensified crackdown on democracy activists.
In a statement issued on Friday, 02 August, the DA’s spokesperson on International Relations and Cooperation, Emma Louise Powell MP, condemned the ZANU-PF government’s repression of civil societyShe argued that hosting the SADC Summit in Zimbabwe would be inappropriate given the country’s deteriorating human rights situation. Said Powell:
The Democratic Alliance calls on the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola, to exercise South Africa’s right as a member of SADC and urgently demand that the 44th Ordinary SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government – scheduled to be held on 17 August 2024 in Harare, Zimbabwe, be moved to a different locatio
By abusing state machinery to violate the rights of Zimbabweans, the unrepentant ZANU-PF regime has demonstrated that it is prepared to go to any lengths to violate the law in order to entrench its authoritarian rule. South Africa, and by extension the SADC, have an obligation to hold the Zimbabwean government to account.
