President Emmerson Mnangagwa appears determined to crush dissent ahead of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) summit scheduled for August 17 in Harare so much that he is sending soldiers to instil fear in residential areas.
Mnangagwa’s government began its brutal crackdown against opposition and civil society activists on June 16 when 78 Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) members were arrested for celebrating the Day of the African Child at a private residency in Harare.
According to Amnesty International, 160 people have been arrested so far including elected officials, opposition members, union leaders, students and human rights activists. Some have been arrested for crimes they allegedly committed over five years ago.
As has become the norm under Mnangagwa’s rule, the government critics have been denied bail in cases that are not even supposed to attract jail sentences.
The government has justified the crackdown by claiming that there are people planning protests to disrupt the summit. For starters, Zimbabwe’s constitution guarantees citizens’ rights to petition the authorities.
The constitution provides for freedom of assembly and freedom of association.
If indeed there are people planning to carry out demonstrations to express their grievances they would not be committing any crime to warrant the heavy handed response by the authorities.
Over the years, Sadc has gained the bad reputation of being a regional body that chooses to see no evil or hear no evil when leaders of member countries violate human rights or rig elections.
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However, the situation in Zimbabwe demands that Sadc raises its voice to demand an end to the vicious assault on human rights that is being done in its name.
Mnangagwa will assume the rotational chairmanship of Sadc until the next summit around this time in 2025. He is probably emboldened by the fact he would be insulated from scrutiny by the regional bloc as its ceremonial leader.
He is likely to get even more vicious in the coming months as pressure mounts from within his ruling Zanu PF party for him to set out a clear plan for his succession.
Mnangagwa has shown throughout his rein that he does not hesitate to use brute force whenever he feels that his rule is being threatened.
He does that because he knows that regional leaders will look the other way, but such leadership gives Sadc a bad name.
It would be in the interests of the regional leaders that are going to attend the summit to whisper to their counterpart even in private to respect the country’s constitution and stop the brutalisation of citizens.
