Africa needs better leadership

The African Union (AU) is a captured institution controlled by leaders who are not prepared to tell each other the truth. Speaking at a media briefing organised by the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC) in Johannesburg on the side-lines of the 25th ordinary session of the heads of State and Government Summit, Crisis in Zimbabwe coalition Acting Chairperson, Ms Samukeliso Khumalo bemoaned the absence of solid and principled leadership in Africa.

“We have a leadership that has failed to confront the problems bedevilling the continent such as dealing with potential hotspots on the continent decisively. The AU leadership is failing to reign in its chairperson President Mugabe who has destroyed the economy and continues to rule illegitimately and with impunity. African leadership has failed the people of Africa”, said Khumalo.

“There must be a set criteria for one to be elected AU or SADC chair. You cannot have a situation where dictators and the worst violators of human rights are calling the shots at regional level. Mugabe is a shame to Zimbabwe and the African continent. We deserve better leadership as Africans”, added Khumalo.

Speaking at the same briefing, Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, Programs manager, Nixon Nyikadzino said that Zimbabwe is now on autopilot and there is absence of leadership in Zimbabwe since the incumbent is no longer in control of the state and is always travelling out of the country. He said that President Mugabe has militarised the state to an extent that the military’s hand is ubiquitous in every sector of the economy.

“Mugabe has become an epitome of dictatorship in Zimbabwe and Africa as a whole. This reflects badly on Africa and there is need for Africa to encourage him to resign from public office since he has failed. He is teaching Africa to be inhuman, violent and coterie of looters. There is need for Zimbabwe and Africa to enter a new dispensation and emancipation without Mugabe”, said Nyikadzino.

Nyikadzino castigated the recently held by-elections in 14 vacant constituencies in Zimbabwe where President Mugabe’s party Zanu pf swept all the constituencies. He said that Zanu pf has upped its vote manipulation game by intimidating people, monitoring their voting patterns and deploying police officers at polling stations. He stated that without a changed culture and democratic reforms Zimbabwe will never hold a free and fair election.

“President Mugabe and his party have perfected the art of manipulating the vote and there is need for the AU to enforce its charter on democratic elections and other instruments we need this summit to begin a conversation on how to sanction member states who violate its statutes”, quipped Nyikadzino.