Zimbabwe`s President Mugabe is now the chairman of SADC, a position he took over from Malawian President, Professor Peter Mutharika on Monday.
Since 2007 Zimbabwe has been on SADCs agenda when the bloc met at an extraordinary Summit in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where former South African president Cde Thabo Mbeki was tasked to mediate inter-party dialogue between Zanu-PF and the MDC formations culminating in the inclusive Government and subsequent harmonised elections on July 31 last year.
Mugabe received the Sadc Chair’s badge from President Mutharika at the opening of the bloc’s 34th Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government to mark the start of his tenure.
The ceremony was witnessed by 13 leaders from the 15 member grouping and 700 delegates including cabinet ministers, African Union Commission Chair Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Sadc Executive Secretary Dr Stergomena Lawrence Tax, legislators, service chiefs and diplomats accredited to Zimbabwe.
For one year Mugabe will lead the region under the theme “Sadc Strategy for Economic Transformation — Leveraging the Region’s Diverse Resources for Sustainable Economic and Social Development through Beneficiation and Value Addition”.
In his acceptance speech Mugabe said: “I feel humbled, and yet greatly honoured, at being appointed the Chairman of Sadc. Being Sadc Chair is an honour to me personally, and to the Government and people of Zimbabwe…
“As Zimbabwe, we look forward to making our contribution to the Sadc agenda, and are confident that we can ensure that the region focuses on interventions that have the greatest impact on the wellbeing of our citizens.”
The role played by Sadc for supporting Zimbabwe during difficult times, including those brought on by illegal Western sanctions.
He criticised Westerners for wanting to oversee elections in Africa, saying only states on the continent and “our friends” should be allowed to supervise polls.
“We thank SADC for consistently calling for the removal of EU and Western illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe, illegal because they were not sanctioned by the UN whose effects are debilitating to our economy and to our people.
“We don’t understand why they have ever been imposed. To tell you the truth, we don’t. Neither does SADC understand. Without your support, we would not be standing on our feet today. We will remain eternally grateful for that. I say, once again, thank you SADC.
“We shall forever be grateful to Southern African countries for the sacrifices they made for Zimbabwe to be free.”
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