11 Aug 2020

Leader of Opposition, Mr Dumelang Saleshando, has told the National Assembly that the political situation in Zimbabwe is of grave concern and necessitates SADC intervention.

Delivering a statement to Parliament on what he classified as ‘the deteriorating human rights situation in Zimbabwe’ on Monday, Mr Salesahando said the official opposition, the Umbrella for

Democratic Change (UDC), felt duty bound to voice its concern over recent political events in Zimbabwe.

Mr Saleshando said Zimbabwe government had chosen to be repressive in response to pro-democracy and anti-corruption organisations having planned to embark on peaceful protests end of July.

“Our conscience and principles do not permit us, the opposition in Botswana, to remain silent in circumstances where the Zimbabwe state has embarked on a brutal and savage crackdown of long-suffering citizens,” Mr Saleshando said.

The Maun West legislator said instead of granting audience to concerned citizens and finding solutions to economic hardship, unemployment and shortage of goods and services including food and medicines, the Zimbabwe  African National Union- Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) led government had been repressive.

“The default reaction of ZANU-PF has been to turn to state sponsored violence against its own citizens. This we see manifesting itself on a daily basis through abductions, assaults, illegal detentions and surveillance of citizens including journalists and civil activists behind the campaign,” Mr Saleshando said.

Zimbabweans, he said, had become accustomed to being victims of suppression by their government, citing the Gukurahundi massacre of people in Matabeleland and the Midlands provinces in the 1980s.

Over the years, such subjugation of civil liberties led to Zimbabweans being exiled to Botswana for economic and political reasons, which stretched the country’s social and public services to ‘cushion the costs of ZANU-PF excess,’ Mr Saleshando remarked.

“In calling on President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his ZANU-PF to immediately desist from terrorising the people and releasing all those in detention, we demand that an extraordinary summit of SADC be convened to address the situation,” he said.

Mr Saleshando further called on Botswana and the central committee of the governing Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) to voice out their condemnation of the state of affairs in Zimbabwe.

In their questions, Vice President, Mr Slumber Tsogwane and the Minister of International Affairs and Cooperation, Dr Unity Dow said parties in government were bound to follow proper diplomatic channels in voicing their concerns over political incidents in neighbouring states.

They said there were due processes that could be followed through multilateral institutions such as SADC for regional political challenges to be addressed. ENDS