To be or not to be SADC indaba HH glitch- Anthony Mukwita

To be or not to be SADC indaba HH glitch

By Anthony Mukwita

Recently I read with disbelief that Zambia under President Hichilema will be breaking a time-honoured ritual of attending the SADC heads of states summit slated for Harare, Zimbabwe.

Details remain scanty but from what I read, our President will skip the 17th of August indaba because he either, does not feel safe and or, he is concerned about Zimbabwe´s democratic credentials under his older brother President Emmerson Mnangagwa aka the crocodile who has been the boss in Zimbabwe since 2017.

As an international relations buff the news that our diplomatic relations had dipped to this low ebb left me quite concerned given the history we share with our southern border nation across the Zambezi.

Zambia and Zimbabwe in warm international relations semantics have been known as the ´Siamese twins´ connected by the brain coming from the colonial times when we were one country, Northern Rhodesia (Zambia), Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and Nyasaland, Malawi onto the eastern border.

We have broken bread and wine together and shed cheers of sorrow and joy while fighting for each other’s independence from the days of first president Kenneth Kaunda and Uncle Bob Robert Mugabe, from colonial Britain.
Zambia has taken more than one bullet for Zim until he got its independence in 1980, a joyous moment hence the reason I cannot understand the current stand-off.

what has gone so terribly wrong between us that a round table meeting, a couple of handshakes cannot save given the fact that what unites us through history is much bigger than what divides us?

I know the Crocodile recently told President Valdmir Putin of the Federation of Russia that he felt ´unsafe´ with Zambia under President Hichilema who recently shook hands with the United States and allowed AFRICOM, the combatant military wing of uncle Sam to have boots In Zambia for the first time in 60 years against the SADC tradition.

I also know that Don HH has not up to now congratulated the Crocodile on his re-election this year, it’s like the victory never even occurred.

I also know that lots of political and diplomatic blood flowed when an HH envoy openly opined that he did not feel the recent Zim polls were NOT free and fair against laid down SADC rules and diplomatic decorum.

So, the battles drums have been beating on the southern border for a while now, but I did not think they would ratchet up to the level of a meeting snub.

This is as bad as it gets, it could take years to fix or repair because diplomatic glitches in international relations are like a glass, once broken sometimes it’s almost near impossible to put them back together.

The saying actually is ´if it aint broke, do not fix it.´

The way I see it don HH has bigger problems and fires to put out locally before he can create more abroad.

Back home he has the challenge of reducing the high cost of the staple food mealie meal currently so high, more than 50 pc of Zambians are going to sleep hungry, it’s not K50 is K400.
He has to contend with graft in officialdom where his top government people are accused to be looting or stealing dry, every state asset they can lay their hands on from land to bogus court settlements.

The don HH has to contend with the high cost of fuel at K33 per lire instead of K12 per litre and high costs of fertiliser including an economy that is going bust plus a huge foreign debt at more than $12 billion that has expanded out of control with an additional $6 billion in just under three years.

When you look at all these insurmountable problems the head of state has to deal, you shudder to think that he is creating an enemy on the southern border when he has so many enemies locally, why is he doing this?
The diplomatic snub in the 60-year history of Zambia can only be equated to that of President Levy Mwanawasa who died in 2008 and never thereafter.

Many of you diplomatic buffs that Mr Mwanawasa likened Zimbabwe under Uncle Bob to a ´s sinking titanic´ regarding governance and rights issues.

That did not sit well diplomatically for us.
To think that it would recur in the 21st century is a big ask, like a blowing the whistle while you are on the ventilator, but our President has made history yet again ´for the first time.´
I often say if the current government ever needed advice regarding international relations, I am here to help.

Why are they letting the don HH walk into a bottom less pit of diplomatic glitches, making him look really bad. He doesn’t deserve this.
By the way in case, you are new to regional geopolitics parlance, SADC is a regional grouping of 16 countries below: Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The current chair is Zambia under don HH who was supposed to hand over the power stick to the Crocodile in Harare on 17th August in Harare but I guesse that won’t happen.
It’s more like the European Union or EU beyond our borders.

My hope is that don HH and the Crocodile, who actually has family in Zambia in Mumbwa and attended UNZA where he obtained his law degree can mend the fences soon.

What unites Zambia and Zimbabwe is much bigger than personal egos and Presidents come and go, countries and people remain.
The bemba’s say ubukulu bwa nkonko bakumwena ku Masako in simple translation, there is strength in numbers.

Ofcourse we all know don HH has dispatched Haimbe to represent him at this auspicious event where Angola hands over the overall SADC power of Chair to Zimbabwe while Zambia hands over the defence and Troika power at same event.

Diplomacy is all about talking and talking and talking so I hope Zambia and Zimbabwe can talk soon.

SOURCE: Daily Nation Zambia-Mukwita on Point on Friday

Contact: mukwitaone@gmail.com
Amb. Anthony Mukwita is a former Ambassador of Zambia to several European countries and a published author whose books are available in Bookworld, Grey Matter and Amazon.