Representing the Zimbabwe Information Centre, Australia, Peter Murphy travelled to Apia, Samoa for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, October 21-26, 2024, to argue for the readmission of Zimbabwe to the Commonwealth.
The outcome was negative, but with the prospect of Zimbabwe being readmitted at the next CHOGM in 2026 in Antigua and Barbuda, the Caribbean.
ZIC provided two briefing papers – on Zimbabwe and the Commonwealth, and Zimbabwe and Sanctions, and the Zimbabwe Peacebuilding Initiative (ZimPI) provided two statements – a greeting to the Commonwealth People’s Forum, and an endorsement of the ZIC effort at CHOGM.
These documents were provided to delegations from the Commonwealth Trade Union Group, Rwanda, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Jamaica, Australia, and the UK. Some conversations were longer than others.
It became clear that the African and Caribbean and Pacific Island countries were highly alert to the Zimbabwe request and very supportive, and that the UK was very much opposed. The UK had the support of Canada, and apparently Australia and New Zealand would not advocate for the Zimbabwe application.
The British view was that Zimbabwe could rejoin the Commonwealth in 2026, if it engaged positively on the following issues:
- Respond positively to the recommendations of the Commonwealth Election Observer Mission by November 28, 2024
- Release political prisoners such as Jameson Timba
- Confirm that President Mnangagwa would not seek a third presidential term, and instead step down in 2028 after his two terms as set out in the Constitution.
- Clarify that Presidential Spokesperson George Charamba’s reported anti-Commonwealth speech was not government policy.
- Confirm that Zimbabwe really accepts the Commonwealth Charter.
It is clear that the British view prevailed.
The 2023 Election Observer Mission Report was given to all governments two months or so prior to the CHOGM but will not be published on a public website. So ZIC is not clear on what the recommendations are. But they should be relatively minor changes to the way ZEC conducts elections, since the report apparently says that the 2023 election itself was well conducted.
Jameson Timba is a former Chief of Staff for Morgan Tsvangirai and was a Minister in the Transitional Government in which Senator Sekai Holland was also a Minister. He was arrested in June 2024 for holding a meeting of youths at his home to discuss how to mark Soweto Day. About 70 youths were also arrested. Timba has been in pre-trial detention for four months.
President Mnangagwa has repeatedly said he will not try for a third term, but voices in ZANU-PF continue to confuse the issue by demanding that he continue in office until 2030 or even a full extra five-year term. Such a resolution was carried at the ZANU-PF Annual Conference in Bulawayo at the same time as CHOGM, followed by Mnangagwa saying there is no way he would allow that.
On October 25, when the further delay to Zimbabwe’s application was clear at the CHOGM Foreign Ministers’ meeting, President Mnangagwa’s Spokesperson, George Charamba, was reported in the Zimbabwe Mail to have said he would rather Zimbabwe quits the Commonwealth forever, even though the Mnangagwa government applied to rejoin the Commonwealth in 2018.
Insisting that he was expressing a personal opinion, Charamba said the Commonwealth was a “needless albatross,” referring to demands for Zimbabwe to implement democratic reforms in order to qualify for membership.
“My personal view has always warned against renewed interest in the Commonwealth. It offers nothing to Zimbabwe besides needless and fastidious strictures,” Charamba wrote on X.
Thanks George!
People-to-People
One Samoan village included a Zimbabwe flag in its display of flags. Each village adopted one of the 55 other Commonwealth countries, flying many of its flags, along with flags of other countries.
This was Mutiatele Village, and the High Chief and his wife, Titi and Sani To’a said that they support the people of Zimbabwe and the people of all countries, not only of Commonwealth countries. They said that they want a peaceful world where all people cooperate. ZIC and ZimPI thanked him and his wife for their recognition of the people of Zimbabwe, even though Zimbabwe is not at present a Commonwealth country.
They said that they support all peoples and don’t exclude anyone. They want a peaceful and cooperative world. We have now made the connection between ZimPI, ZIC and this village.
