By Paul Nyathi|After all the hype by state media and government on the participation of Zimbabwe at the ongoing Commonwealth Heads Of State and Government summit taking place in London, it has emerged that the country will after all not be admitted into the summit in any capacity.
Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Sibusiso Busi Moyo who is in the United Kingdom representing the country will not be attending any of the summit events after Zimbabwe was denied observer status by the Commonwealth which said that such a status did not exist.
State media and government had previously reported that Moyo would be attending the summit.
Moyo will however only take advantage of the summit to speak to delegates at the sidelines.
An official from the Brish Embassy in Harare told the weekly publication The Zimbabwe Independent,
“Zimbabwe does not have formal observer status at CHOGM and we understand will not be attending any Commonwealth events. However, Foreign Minister Moyo is welcome in London and we are delighted he will take advantage of the CHOGM to meet a number of key interlocutors in the margins,” said the official.
Zimbabwe left the Commonwealth in December 2003, after former President Robert Mugabe pulled the country out of the organisation when he refused to accept the decision made at the Abuja summit, to maintain Zimbabwe’s suspension indefinitely.
Zimbabwe had been suspended after the country’s 2001 elections were found to be flawed by electoral observers who alleged that there were high levels of politically motivated violence.
In the process to admit Zimbabwe to the commonwealth, the British foreign minister Boris Johnson will meet Moyo and ministers from neighboring African states for talks on Friday expected to include Zimbabwe’s possible readmittance to the Commonwealth.
Friday’s talks will take place on the sidelines of the summit.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who took over when Mugabe quit after nearly four decades in power following a de facto military coup last November, has said he wants Zimbabwe to rejoin the organization of 53 mostly former territories of the British Empire.
Johnson has previously said Zimbabwe’s Commonwealth readmittance would be a “fine and noble aspiration” for both parties, but that it must hold free and fair election first and also prove it meets the organization’s standards on the rule of law, democracy and human rights.
Speaking earlier this week, he praised the country’s progress under Mnangagwa but said there was still much to do.