Paul Nyathi

Zimbabwe is not on the agenda of the Sadc summit to be held next Monday, neither is it up for discussion at the African Union (AU), since there is no crisis to warrant its placement on anyone’s agenda, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said yesterday.

“It is common knowledge that there is no Zimbabwean issue before the Sadc Organ on Politics, Defence and Security. Neither is there any such issue before the Sadc Summit. Definitely there is no such issue before the continental body, the African Union.”

The 40th Ordinary Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and preceding meetings will be held virtually from the 10th to the 17th of August, 2020.

In view of the challenges posed by the COVID 19 Pandemic, the Summit and preceding meetings will be conducted virtually.

The SADC Secretariat has since indicated that the summit will proceed with a reduced agenda, focusing on the hand-over of the SADC Chairperson-ship, and critical Institutional matters.

The Republic of Mozambique will host the virtual meetings as the Incoming Chair of the 16 Member regional economic bloc.

The SADC Summit is responsible for the overall policy direction and control of functions of the community, ultimately making it the policy-making institution of SADC.

The SADC Summit is made up of all SADC Heads of States or Government and is managed on a Troika system that comprises the current SADC Chairperson, the incoming Chairperson and the immediate previous Chairperson.

The Ordinary SADC Summit usually meets once a year around August or September in a Member State of the incoming SADC Chairperson.