MDC Alliance leader, advocate Nelson Chamisa has criticized the Southern African Development Community (SADC) blaming them for failing to respect the will of the people and siding with repressive regimes to manipulate election results.
Chamisa said this during an interview with the South African Broadcasting Corporation {SABC] on Sunday about the invitation by the Zambian President-elect former opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema to attend his inauguration.
He blamed the regional body, which he said was siding with a “club” of leaders who were not ready to let go of power even if voted out of office.
The opposition leader added that SADC must play its role and not take sides when addressing electoral outcomes.
“We want to see the will of the people being respected so that we do not have the elite (riding) roughshod over the citizens as we have seen in Zimbabwe, where people vote, but they are punished for voting.
“We need to make sure that SADC plays its important role and not side with a club of those who would want to manipulate the will of the people, but to side with the people. Look at what happened in Malawi. Sadc had endorsed the Malawian election, but the institutions within Malawi itself invalidated the election because it was invalid. We want to see the strong institutions coming in to support the citizens, the will of the people and the verdict that people would have given in a particular election,” Chamisa said.
Chamisa called for a democratic transformation process within SADC to ensure that it efficiently plays its role of defending the will of the people and guarding against manipulation of election results.
“What is very clear is that we are beginning to see the cascading of this positive wave to the African continent.
“As you are aware the African continent is a continent of values, ideals and the liberation promises. So we are built on the foundation of the liberation promise of our founding fathers, those who liberated the continent. Their vision was to see Africa being able to articulate a future. So we are building on that liberation process, but for that process to be elevated, there has to be the democratic transformation process, that comes with structural institutional changes and also entrenching this fundamental role of the institutions not to tamper with the will of the people. We want to see the bullet moving away from invalidating the power of the ballot,” he said.
Meanwhile, SADC congratulated Hichilema for the victory and commended outgoing President Edgar Lungu for accepting defeat and peacefully handing over power to the former opposition leader.
Yesterday, President Emmerson Mnangagwa together with MDC Alliance leader advocate Nelson Chamisa left to attend Hakainde Hichilema inauguration in Zambia.
Speaking at the inauguration Mnangagwa hailed Zambians for a peaceful transition of power whilst urging other African leaders to accept election outcomes peacefully without resorting to violence.
Southern African Development Community (SADC) was established as a development coordinating conference (SADCC) in 1980 and transformed into a development community in 1992. It is an inter-governmental organization whose goal is to promote sustainable and equitable economic growth and socio-economic development through efficient productive systems, deeper co-operation and integration, good governance and durable peace and security among fifteen Southern African.
