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The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes the release yesterday of a senior Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) politician and minister of state in the office of the prime minister, Jameson Timba. Minister Timba had been detained since Friday under Zimbabwe’s sweeping security laws, reportedly for accusing Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe of lying about the outcome of the recent Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit held in Johannesburg.

It is reported that, during his detention, Minister Timba was denied food and access to his lawyers. These are not the actions of a regime that is keen to embrace democratic reform, nor is this the behaviour of a state that is ready to hold free and fair elections. The DA calls on President Jacob Zuma, as SADC-appointed mediator to Zimbabwe, to encourage the SADC to use the mechanisms at its disposal to ensure that elections do not go ahead in Zimbabwe until key democratic reforms have been made.

South Africa needs to play a central role in taking a decisive stand against ongoing political repression in Zimbabwe as reports of intimidation, violence and voter fraud continue. This most recent incident is a powerful illustration of President Robert Mugabe’s determination to entrench repressive, tyrannical rule in Zimbabwe. President Zuma should see to it that the much tougher approach adopted by the SADC security organ at its March meeting in Zambia is maintained, and that President Mugabe’s attempts to undermine political progress in Zimbabwe are decisively addressed by the appropriate SADC structures.

In the light of continued political instability in Zimbabwe, the decision taken at last month’s SADC summit to extend a moratorium on the hearing of new cases at the SADC Tribunal is of grave concern. This decision effectively dissolves this crucial body, which is responsible for adjudicating disputes between citizens and governments of SADC states when all domestic legal avenues have been exhausted. The Tribunal was an important legal resource for Zimbabwean citizens, whose domestic legal system is deeply flawed. Following the Tribunal’s handing down of a landmark judgment that found against the Zimbabwean government regarding its disastrous land reform policy, the SADC sided with President Mugabe in ordering a “review” of the Tribunal – which effectively disbanded it altogether.

As long as the SADC vacillates on the Zimbabwe issue – pandering to it in the case of the SADC Tribunal, while taking a tougher stance through its security organ in March – President Mugabe and his party will exploit this weakness and continue to undermine the political progress that has been made in Zimbabwe thus far. President Zuma has an important role to play in ending this stalemate. The establishment of democracy in Zimbabwe is as important for South Africa’s future as it is for our neighbouring state’s.