Zimbabwe and Zambia relations at breaking point amid SADC summit protests

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Relations between Zimbabwe and Zambia have reached a breaking point as Zambia’s main opposition party, the Patriotic Front (PF), has warned President Hakainde Hichilema and members of his governing United Party for National Development (UPND) against allegedly stage-managing protests against Zimbabwe’s assumption of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) chairmanship at next month’s summit. The PF claims that such actions sow divisions in the region.

The warning comes after Zambia Police on Wednesday acknowledged receipt of a notification to protest by purported Zimbabweans and citizens from Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, and South Africa resident in Zambia. According to PF Secretary-General Rafael Nakacinda, the protests were cleared.

The protests are scheduled to coincide with the SADC bloc’s 26th Ordinary Meeting of the Ministerial Committee of the Organ (MCO) on Politics, Defence, and Security Cooperation, taking place from July 11-12 in Lusaka. President Hichilema is the outgoing chair of the organ.

Nakacinda told The Herald in a telephone interview that under President Hichilema, Zambia had deviated from its non-alignment foreign policy position by getting closer to the US and the collective West, thereby risking the stability of the region.

“Lusaka and HH (President Hakainde Hichilema) have been reckless towards good neighbourliness. From independence, Zambia has been pursuing a foreign policy of non-alignment from Kenneth Kaunda to Edgar Lungu. What is causing Hichilema to do this, clearly, is that he is a puppet of the West and we have spoken hardly against his proximity to the US. He is consistently on the path of being provocative to neighbours,” Nakacinda said.

According to Nakacinda, President Hichilema has deliberately provoked Zimbabwe, especially by sending Nevers Mumba to lead the SADC Election Observer Mission to Zimbabwe last year.

“What he is doing on Zambian soil is not only threatening Zambia, but the region. We condemned his decision to send Nevers Mumba to Zimbabwe’s elections saying his choice was an interested party. Now the antics of mobilising people purported to be Zimbabweans and bringing in other countries is petty and we condemn that.

“Zimbabwe and Zambia are Siamese twins, we are one people. This move to orchestrate protests against a neighbour is petty. He is trying to respond to President Mnangagwa and President Putin’s meeting in Moscow. What he is doing is a lack of protocol and SADC should consider censuring him. He is a junior president in the region and he is short of that basic understanding of regional unity,” added Nakacinda.

The PF party accuses President Hichilema of failing to uphold the rule of law, criminalising free expression, and entrenching political intolerance, which they say threatens the “One Zambia, One Nation” principle espoused by the late founding President Dr Kenneth Kaunda.

Efforts to obtain further comments from Zambia’s Information and Media Permanent Secretary Mr Thabo Kawana and Zambia’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Derick Livune were unsuccessful.

Recently, a senior Zimbabwean Government official told The Sunday Mail that the country was aware of opposition members who had visited a country in the region to coordinate protests to besmirch Zimbabwe ahead of the SADC Summit. This follows claims that President Mnangagwa informed Vladimir Putin about Zambian military bases in Zambia.

The Zimbabwean government is also aggrieved over the appointment of Nevers Mumba as the SADC election observer, perceiving it as a move to instigate regime change. The Zimbabwean government supports Zambia’s opposition leader Edgar Lungu, while the current Zambian President backs Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader Nelson Chamisa.