IPRIS

Regional parliaments in Southern Africa: why SADC's project is doomed to fail

Vasco Martins

In a region where conflict still exists, peace is often broken by localized power struggles and regimes are nothing but a patchwork of most political systems that have been attempted by mankind, the imposition of a SADC parliament with the ability to make states endorse its decisions is a project doomed to fail.

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Zimbabwe looking back on the Lusaka Protocol

Vasco Martins

SADC will have an important role to play both in Zimbabwe's electoral process and in the period that concludes any type of government. Going through a severe humanitarian crisis, with little support from the international community, it will fall upon SADC's shoulders to solve the dire issues of Zimbabwe. Perhaps the Angolan government's experience will evoke a better understanding of the nature of this political conflict, yet history has always tested the strength of a new unity government after the failure of a previous one.

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Encircling Zimbabwe: between friend and foe

Vasco Martins

Unlike the ECOWAS, so far the SADC has been unable to congregate in a productive way, although the tables seem to be turning for Robert Mugabe, especially since South African President Jacob Zuma adopted a much tougher stance towards his regime. While the outcome of this political crisis is still unclear, it is apparent that the SADC possesses neither the strength nor the unity to make its policies significant, a weakness revealed when Robert Mugabe refrained from adopting any of SADC measures without significant regional consequences.

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