CHIMEDZA: SADC, political elite is blind to suffering of the masses in Zimbabwe
The military has become a very powerful political institution in Zimbabwe. Increasingly the military has been dabbling in the electoral landscape and openly supporting one faction against another in the ruling party. ILLUSTRATION | JOHN NYAGA
Tanzania recently hosted the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Summit and, as part of the resolutions, the leaders condemned sanctions against Zimbabwe. They agreed to make October 25, 2019 a “day of political action against sanctions” in solidarity with Zimbabwe.
The ruling Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF), celebrated the resolution as a victory. But, as the summit was going on, in Zimbabwe, the opposition had organised national protests, which were brutally stopped by the police backed by the military. While the leaders in Tanzania revived the liberation movement solidarity that historically existed in the pan-African project to liberate Zimbabwe, the people of Zimbabwe themselves were protesting the worsening socio-economic conditions.
