Regional summit:

Zimbabwe in spotlight

NAMIBIA: Southern African leaders meet Monday in Namibia’s capital to discuss Zimbabwe’s strained unity Government and its refusal to adhere to rulings by a regional tribunal.

Officially, the summit of the 15-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) marks the 30th anniversary of the organisation’s creation.

Then the grouping was known as the Front Line States, which sought to coordinate liberation movements in Namibia and apartheid South Africa.

Since Namibia’s independence and the end of white-minority rule in South Africa, the organisation has struggled to assert itself as a political force — mainly because its members are unwilling to submit to regional decision-making.

The case in point is Zimbabwe, which signed a treaty creating a regional court based in Windhoek but has refused to obey its rulings.

The SADC tribunal has ruled in favour of white farmers in Zimbabwe, saying President Robert Mugabe’s land reforms unfairly targeted them because of their race.

Harare has flatly rejected the ruling allowing the farmers to stay on their land, raising questions about the purpose of a tribunal that cannot enforce its decisions.

SADC executive secretary Tomaz Salomao said justice ministers would present a report about Zimbabwe’s non-compliance. South Africa will also brief leaders on the progress of the unity government.

South Africa’s Foreign Ministry said President Jacob Zuma was overall optimistic on Zimbabwe.

“He will recognie that the task in Zimbabwe is not completed but the overwhelming picture is favourable,” Foreign Ministry director general Ayanda Ntsaluba said.

WINDHOEK, Friday, AFP