Lusaka-Pretoria AfDB Tiff; Zambia should withdraw Maimbo’s candidature
LUSAKA, We have followed keenly the diplomatic row that has ensued between Zambia and South Africa over the upcoming elections for the Presidency of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Africa’s premier financial institution.
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By convention, on August 17th 2024, SADC adopted Zambia’s Dr. Samuel Munzele Maimbo as its sole candidate for the May election.
However, on October 1st 2024, the South African cabinet decided to break with tradition and floated its own national Ms. Bajabulile Swazi Tshabalala as a candidate for the AfDB top job.
Ms. Swazi Tshabalala, who joined the bank in 2018 and until now was senior vice-president is seen in diplomatic circles as a safer pair of hands whose candidature delivers continuity after Akinwumi Adesina’s two terms. For most people, in Madam Swazi, the bank has a strong chance of being led by a woman for the first time.
Dr. Maimbo has spent most of his career at the World Bank, where he served as Chief of Staff to its former President David Malpass and quite recently as Vice President, Budget, Performance Review & Strategic Planning. For most of our friends in the region, Dr Maimbo is seen as an outsider, a weak candidate and one who will only serve the interests of the West.
As a Zambian, we believe he deserves support and we are expected to offer him that support but we are compelled to support Madam Swazi because we feel the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Relations has messed up his candidacy. Through Hon. Haimbe, the Zambian government failed to consult widely beyond SADC to understand and appreciate the complexities of regional and global politics.
What South Africa has done should not been viewed lightly. By backing its own national and breaking with the SADC tradition of a uniform candidate, South Africa is telling the world that Zambia and all that it stands for can and should not be taken seriously. One cannot entirely fault South Africa for holding that view about Zambia today because under the current administration, it is hard to understand our foreign policy. Today, a country that was well represented globally and had clear foreign policy priorities is seen as a flip flopper and a puppet of the West. We also know that South Africa is not alone in this crusade to butcher Dr. Maimbo’s chances, it is common knowledge how Zimbabwe feels about the Zambian government. We also know how uneasy the entire SADC feels about the current administration. SADC holds around 14% of voting rights in the AfDB group and going into this election with a split SADC will only hurt Dr. Maimbo’s chances further.
Now that Lusaka is up against Pretoria, it would be prudent for Hon. Haimbe to save the country and Dr Maimbo from a major embarrassment by impressing upon him to withdraw from the race.
Dr. Maimbo’s chances have been jeopardized by the haphazard management of Zambia’s international relations, today, Lusaka is not trusted beyond its borders. Lusaka has been isolated.
What awaits Dr Maimbo is the same fate that befell Prof. Chaloka Beyani. Prof. Beyani, a Zambian, is a globally respected international law expert who teaches at the London School of Economics who wanted to be elected as a Judge at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) late last year, If elected, Prof. Beyani would have been the first Zambian judge at the ICJ in The Hague.
Despite his strong credentials, Prof. Beyani miserably lost that election mainly due to perceptions that Lusaka is untrustworthy.
Our plea is that Lusaka immediately withdraws Dr. Maimbo from the race before the 31st January 2025 deadline for submitting of candidates and embarks on a charm offensive across the region to repair its fractured relations with its neighbors. An isolated Lusaka is bad for business and a threat to national peace and security. The Zambian government should immediately appoint a respected statesman to undertake this assignment for the good of the nation. As it stands, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has removed, replaced or frustrated all experienced Diplomats who had a good understanding of Zambia’s foreign and how to relates with its SADC neighbours.
As SADC citizens and as an act of good neighborliness, we pledge to canvass for Madam Tshabalala across the entire African continent to ensure that she ascends to the top of the Abidjan based bank. The time has come for a strong woman in the name of Madam Tshabalala, a woman of high intergrity with a proven track record of helping Africa to develop. We therefore appeal to all well meaning citizens of Africa to endorse our position to support Madam Tshabalala because we believe her time has come to lead the bank.
Issued by:
Hon. Bowman C. Lusambo.
Former Lusaka Province Minister & Kabushi Member of Parliament
National Mobilisation Chairman & Member of the Central- Patriotic Front
13th October, 2024