By Own Correspondent

THE SADC's 44th Heads of Summit which ended on the 18th of August in the capital city of Harare has left many burning questions on the bloc's commitment to promote workers’ rights.

This follows the decision by the heads of state and governments from the 16 member states to remain silent on the matter.

In the lead up to the high level convention an estimated 200 activists were held in detention with several others feared to have been subjected to gruesome torture. This follows arbitrary arrests of rights activists in a fascist style which political analysts described as preventive arrests to block demonstrations on the sidelines of the just ended Summit.

The activists were allegedly organising demonstrations as a show of action against the conferment of SADC chairmanship to President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Contrary to expectations the region's leaders were going to demand the urgent release of the unionist and other rights activists, the Summit instead ignored the hot issue.

Certainly in Zimbabwe, at least, where the ruling Zanu-PF has forcefully cracked down on its political opponents over the past few weeks, arresting, detaining and, in some cases, allegedly torturing about 165 of them, precisely out of fear that they would embarrass President Emmerson Mnangagwa by demonstrating against him at the summit.

Even other leaders within SADC who are facing similar allegations also escaped the noose and left the convention without being reprimanded.

Preventative detention is clearly also what happened in another SADC member state, Tanzania, last week.

The ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party suppressed opposition demonstrations, and hundreds of members of the main opposition Chadema party were detained to prevent them from holding a rally in Mbeya to celebrate International Youth Day on Monday, 12 August. They were released a day later.

There also seemed to be little hope that the SADC leaders would do much to remedy the democratic deficits in another member state, Eswatini. 

Violent demonstrations against the absolute monarchy of King Mswati III in 2021 jolted SADC into taking notice of the problem and trying to persuade Mswati to embark on a national dialogue to address the concerns of the political opposition.

Recently the ZCTU condemned the widespread arrest and demanded the urgent release of the rights activists.

“The ZCTU strongly condemns these premeditated arrests that are meant to instil fear in the general public.  It is such behaviour which continues to tarnish the image of Zimbabwe. We demand transparency on arrests.

“We demand an environment conducive for freedom of association and assembly where every Zimbabwean can discharge his or her duties without fear of being arrested, tortured or abducted.”