Online Reporter
Herald Reporters
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa’s tenure as Chairperson of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) has been hailed for reigniting Africa’s drive to resolve its own challenges, particularly violent conflict, through diplomacy and Pan-African solidarity.
This follows his formal handover of the chairmanship to his Madagascan counterpart President Andry Rajoelina last weekend, marking the end of his one-year term.
In that period, President Mnangagwa played a central role in spearheading African-led efforts to address instability in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
In an interview ahead of the handover, Deputy Chief Secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet (Presidential Communications) Mr George Charamba said the President’s tenure will be remembered for uniting Sadc and the East African Community (EAC) in a historic joint initiative to restore peace in the DRC.
He said this contribution was consistent with the African union (AU)’s “Silencing the Guns” initiative, which seeks to end conflicts across the continent to pave the way for development.
“I would suggest and strongly argue that the biggest and foremost achievement that we registered as the chairman of SADC related to silencing the guns,” Mr Charamba said.
“This is the mantra of the African Union, which is in fact the mother body within which we locate sub-regional bodies like SADC.
“The African Union has taken a position to say that we must achieve universal peace on the continent to enable development.
“What that means is the African Union then sub-contracts that assignment to sub-regional organisations, of which SADC is one such, to ensure that there is peace, and that peace reigns and prevails within every building block; in our case, in respect of SADC.”
Analysts have concurred with this assessment, saying the President infused Pan-African values into regional diplomacy, giving fresh impetus to Africa’s capacity to address its own conflicts.
Speaking on Star FM’s current affairs programme Muriro on Monday, Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services director of international communications, Mr Richard Mahomva, said President Mnangagwa’s leadership broke new ground by bringing together SADC and the EAC.
“We witnessed the historic joint East African Community and SADC, conflict resolution approach, what that meant, is that under Zimbabwe, Africa was able to redress its genealogy before the boundaries of colonialism came,” he said.
“Africans are beginning to rethink how artificial the concept of regional constructs are; given how they have divided people.
“As a continent, we are beginning to use those frontiers of regional economic communities to end war and to show the positives of the diversities that we share.
“And isn’t that a good thing for Africa? It is good.”
Mr Mahomva added that President Mnangagwa promoted unity, peace and diplomacy as guiding principles, while reaffirming Zimbabwe’s place in multilateral institutions.
He said under President Mnangagwa’s stewardship, Zimbabwe steered the virtue of unity, peace and diplomacy.
“Zimbabwe’s chairmanship of SADC affirms, confirms and reiterates the country’s bona fide membership to the original body, because the nation’s existence as a State should be juxtaposed with allegiance and membership to multilateral institutions,” he said.
Zimpapers Group Political Editor, Ranga Mataire, commended the President for ensuring that SADC resonated with ordinary citizens.
“One year is not enough for anyone to be able to implement all the policy initiatives that one would want,” he said.
“But one thing that President Mnangagwa managed to do away from the issues of economy was to make sure that SADC becomes part and parcel of any ordinary Zimbabwe.
“You can’t underestimate the impact that President Mnangagwa’s leadership had in terms of trying to make citizens have ownership of this regional initiative.
“The President has been spreading innovation hubs at higher institutions of learning.
“You are aware that during Covid, President Mnangagwa also made a lot of initiatives that made us at least self-sufficient.”
He noted that the President consistently urged fellow Heads of State to prioritise food security and disaster preparedness, adding that industrialisation and innovation remained at the centre of his chairmanship.
“He has also been initiating processes to ensure that we are prepared in terms of disaster management.
“I think that’s one critical issue that SADC needs to be on top of and which is also his own legacy.
“So in a nutshell, the issue of industrialisation and innovation has been at the centre of his chairmanship,” he said.
Principal Lecturer at the Zimbabwe Institute of Diplomacy, Mr Vova Chikanda, echoed similar sentiments, stressing that Zimbabwe’s tenure had “positively revolutionised” SADC’s diplomacy.
“He brought in diplomacy much deeper than a lot of other countries expected,” he said.
“We were in the DRC to support peace.”
