Leaders called to help

SADC heads of state urged to hold Harare accountable over human rights.

- Marizka Coetzer

Zimbabwean interest groups have called for help from the intercommunity national ahead of the 44th Southern African Development Community (SADC) Summit next week in Harare, asking it to intervene and hold the Zimbabwean government accountable for what was described as state-sponsored abductions, arrests and killings.

Since the elections last year that saw President Emmerson Mnangagwa being re-elected, many Zimbabweans have rejected him as the leader and sought better pastures across the borders into South Africa, with an estimated more than million Zimbabweans living in South Africa.

Southern Africa Human Rights Defenders Network chairperson Professor Adriano Nuvunga has called on SADC leaders who believe in democratic values to hold the Zimbabwean government accountable for its commitments to human rights.

Nuvunga said it was imperative to bring to light the intensifying state-sponsored crackdown characterised by abductions, arbitrary arrests, torture and harassment in Zimbabwe with the SADC summit underway next weekend.