Opposition leader Elisabeth Valerio has burst the ruling ZANU-PF’s bubble after President Emmerson Mnangagwa assumed SADC chairmanship over the weekend.
Valerio, the President of the United Zimbabwe Alliance, commented on the issue in a statement on her social media accounts. She was speaking on the just-ended 44th Ordinary SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government, which happened on the 17th of August, 2024, in Harare.
Valerio poked holes in the logic of celebrating President Mnangagwa becoming the SADC chairperson when it was just Zimbabwe’s turn.
“We must hold our national leaders to account. We expect them to deliver real progress for the people, not just celebrating ceremonial positions. It’s a fact that in 2015, the late President Robert #Mugabe assumed the roles of AU Chairman and SADC Chairman. Just as it was then, the current appointment to the SADC Chairmanship is simply a matter of rotation,” she said.
Valerio added that people celebrating the chairmanship should see it as just routine:
“It’s important to recognise that this is nothing more than routine! It’s not an extraordinary achievement. Therefore, the excess celebration and the national expenditures incurred are unnecessary. It is our turn, as per the rotational system, nothing more.”
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The opposition leader said for President Mnangagwa’s tenure to be meaningful, it should have a positive impact on ordinary Zimbabweans. She stated that holding the SADC Chairmanship should be seen in tangible improvements within Zimbabwe.
However, Valerio has little hope:
“The majority of #Zimbabweans continue to suffer under economic hardship, and we have witnessed the continued violation of citizens’ rights. The SADC protocols and guidelines on governance, which our government is expected to uphold, remain a distant promise for the ordinary Zimbabwean.”
She also focused on opposition politicians who attended the SADC summit, saying they “were there to sanitise the facade of a matured democracy, yet we all know the reality.”
In his SADC Chairmanship acceptance speech, President Mnangagwa made a call to all regional Heads of state to leverage the region’s human capital to spur technology and innovation that will leap-frog the mordernisation and industrialisation of SADC towards a higher quality of life of our citizens.”
