End of Line For Mugabe?

August 16^th will be a decisive day for Zimbabwe. On that day the SADC (Southern African Development Community) nations will meet in Luanda, Angola to talk about the future of the region. Angola and South Africa will be the most influential nations at the meeting, South Africa for its obvious economical and political power and Angola for being the SADC presiding country for the period between August 2011 and August 2012.

This year’s meeting will focus on five points, improving infrastructures, find energy solutions for the region, macroeconomic convergence, food safety and HIV/Aids. Despite of the vast range of topics and issues that will be addressed at the conference, what really interests me is how the SADC will handle Mugabe and his government.

The SADC has designed a plan for the democratization of its members, the so called “election roadmap.” One of the countries subject to the plan is Mugabe’s Zimbabwe. Mugabe’s rule has been known for its corruption, repression and persecution of political rivals and SADC’s plan does not to seem to please him too much. In fact, Jacob Zuma, the South African President and appointed facilitator for the SADC-Zimbabwe relations, has already been in shock with Robert Mugabe in what seems to be a replay of what has happened for the last couple years between the SADC and Zimbabwe’s President. The SADC countries seem to be ready to boycott Zimbabwe and put an end to their relations with Mugabe’s country if there are no signals of change in the country. 

We will see what happens next week in Luanda.