Southern Africa: Mwanawasa's Death a Blow to the Region
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
19 August 2008
Posted to the web 20 August 2008
Lusaka
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa's death has dealt a double blow to Southern Africa, not only generating fears of possible political instability in Zambia but also concern about the impact on the process of finding a solution in Zimbabwe, according to analysts.
Under the current constitution, which is under review, Zambians will have to head for fresh polls within 90 days.
Mwanawasa, as chair of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), was one of the first regional leaders, together with the past and current presidents of Botswana, to openly criticise Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's policies.
Mwanawasa died in a French hospital on 19 August, nearly two months after he was admitted as a result of suffering a stroke, said Zambian vice-president Rupiah Banda. He was 59.
Describing Mwanawasa as a "good friend and comrade", the leader of Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Morgan Tsvangirai, said he had "left us at this most trying time".
The late Zambian president had been "a champion of the democratisation of the SADC region in particular, and the African continent in general; as such, his passing-on is a sad day to the Zimbabwean people, who at this stage are yearning for a new beginning which can unquestionably be characterised as democratic and a reflection of the will of the people," said Tsvangirai.
Mwanawasa was an outspoken critic of Mugabe, and once likened Zimbabwe to a "sinking titanic". During the violent clashes before Zimbabwe's general election in early 2008, he described what was happening in the neighbouring country as "embarrassing to the region and the continent".
His last statement as chair of SADC, read on his behalf on 16 August, was yet another strongly worded criticism of the ruling Zimbabwean regime, in which he labelled the events leading up to and including the run-off election on 27 June to elect the Zimbabwean president as "a serious blot on the culture of democracy in our sub-region."
Lee Habasonda, executive director of the Southern African Centre for Constructive Resolution of Disputes [SACCORD], a regional good governance and human rights watchdog, said: "The region has truly lost one of the most influential figures [contributing] to resolving the Zimbabwe situation. It now leaves Botswana alone."
Botswana has said it regards Mugabe as an illegitimate leader because he lost the legitimate election on 29 March, and won the run-off 27 June as sole the candidate after MDC leader Tsvangirai withdrew because his supporters were being violently attacked.
"His [Mwanawasa's] leadership was slowly beginning to take away that conservative and freedom fighter mentality which has been undermining governance and democracy in the region. The onus now is on the [other] regional leaders to consolidate on that," Habasonda commented.
Ian Khama, who assumed the Botswana presidency on 1 April, chose to boycott the last SADC summit in Johannesburg on 16 and 17 June because Mugabe had been invited. The SADC is trying to negotiate a power-sharing deal between Mugabe and Tsvangirai.
Meanwhile at home
Analysts said Mwanawasa's death could stir political bickering in his ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy [MMD], and the man to gain would be opposition leader Michael Sata.
"There will be a lot of infighting for the presidency as the MMD has no party vice-president, who should have been an automatic replacement for president Mwanawasa. They may have to go to the [national] convention but time is not allowing them. I think we shall soon see the formation of a break-away party from MMD, before the elections," said a political analyst who declined to be identified.
Mwanawasa became Zambia's president in 2001, and won a hotly contested 2006 ballot for his second and final five-year term, which would have ended in 2011.
His period in office was characterised by an anti-corruption drive that saw his predecessor, Frederick Chiluba, together with a number of high-ranking officials in the former government, in and out of court on corruption charges.
The anti-corruption drive endeared Mwanawasa to Western donors, and led to the 2005 cancellation of the country's external debt of US$7.2 billion, putting Zambia back on a path to economic recovery.
"President Mwanawasa's death leaves a big hole in terms of the fight against corruption and seriousness in managing public affairs," Habasonda said. "He showed seriousness, and his legacy will be remembered as one of the 'Rule of Law'."
Relevant Links
[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations ]
Read comments. Write your own.
This post was deleted because it contravenes AllAfrica's commenting guidelines.
I think you are mad, you are probably the only person supporting Robert Mugabe, what has he done for your country except reduce it to a land of starving people, count how many innocent Zimbabweans are living on foreign soil. your country was called the bread basket of southern africa, now you can't even grow enough to feed your selves, it's people like you benefiting from ZANU-PF at the expense of the whole population. indeed you remind of of animal farm (all animals are equal but some more equal than others)your hands have been greased by ZANU in one way… [Read Full Text]
Dear Salome, I would like to register my heart felt condolence for the death of the Zambian head of state.The person you are referring to as mad is not mad but let me tell you what he is.The guy is one of the human dogs being spond fed by Mugabe other wise he would not say such a thing about the dead person.Given the African setting or norms, it is not allowed to say some after the death of a bad ruler let alone the angle like Mwanwasa.Mwanwasa is now at the right hand of the GOD but soon Mugabe… [Read Full Text]
Please grow up and behave in a decent manner. Mwanasa never murdered anyone, he was democratically elected by his people, he turned the economy of zambia round and just about everyone on the international stage has not had a bad word to say about him..expect you bitter mugabe lovers on here. If you love your mugabe that is fine by us but do try to keep your garbage to yourself...we could not care two hoots about how you feel about your failure of an idiot mugabe and trying to compare him to statesmen like levy and mandela only shows him… [Read Full Text]
You disgusting bastard ! Death and bad wishes to you ! I shall visit my ngana and have a curse put on you ! You will encounter nothing but bad luck ! Mwanawasa was a great man and you defame him ? Psssop ! MATAYAKO, MBOROYAKO ! You disgusting scum , how can you defame an great African leader ! MTOTO |! You will taste bad luck ! The bones are thrown ! Bad Luck ! I suppose you work for the herald ! Yourlife is over ! Hokoyo ! The angered MKASA !
MAKASA . You need to watch your . you need clorine and bleach to wash it . may be you like MBORO i have a big one . but you are lucky i respect people when they speack their mind. let get to the bottom of this. for veryone over there. MUGABE is the man , althaugh people have died , i'm not happy about that . and for MWANAWASA I'M NOT SORRY… [Read Full Text]
makasa. Don't waste your breath on that ungreatful brat from Zanu PF, who thinks he is enjoying because he has a newspaper for toilet paper. Levy was a great man, he has left a legacy in Africa, boots too big to be taken over. That's why i cried along with the Zambian people when that man died. Mbeki is just as useless and undemocratic as Mugabe. This is a dark moment for Zambia and Zambians so instead of exchanging insults online lets mourn in peace.
alain..you are right about having a big mboro...its called Mugabe!!!! Now piss off you and your mugabe loving sewerage that's coming out of your mouth. dont forget your thug is 80yrs now..wont be long before they are lowering his stinking body into the very same ground he has had others lowered into..and then WE will ALL rejoice on here and about 5 or 6 of you on here can weep and go and cry at his funeral and make the numbers up to about 10!!!
|
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Copyright © 2008 UN Integrated Regional Information Networks. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Make allAfrica.com your home page
|
RSS Feed
Sign up for FREE daily 'top headlines' by email >> | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | My Account | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa's death is a sad event for all freedom loving peoples of the world. I pray he is in the Lord’s arms, and his family secure.