Political Reporter-President Emmerson Mnangagwa has failed to persuade the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to dismiss the damning August 2023 election observer mission report that challenged his legitimacy.

The report, which condemned the Zimbabwean polls as flawed and fraudulent, remains the regional bloc’s official position.

At the SADC summit, leaders chose not to discuss the observer mission’s findings, a move widely interpreted as an implicit endorsement of the report.

This unprecedented document, which rejected Mnangagwa’s re-election as illegitimate, now stands unchallenged as the definitive account of the 2023 elections.

Mnangagwa, who assumed the SADC chairmanship from Angola during the summit, was expected to use his new position to discredit and retract the observer mission’s report.

The report had already been validated by an extraordinary summit in Angola and a special ministerial meeting in Zambia.

The summit’s silence on the controversial election results signifies that the observer mission’s assessment remains the authoritative narrative within the region.

Opposition parties had hoped the summit would address the contentious election outcomes, but their expectations were unmet.

The 2023 elections faced condemnation not only from SADC but also from other regional and international observer missions invited to monitor the process.

Further casting doubt on Mnangagwa’s legitimacy, Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema chose not to attend the Harare summit in person, opting instead to participate virtually—a move widely viewed as a protest.

Hichilema, who oversaw the SADC Election Observer Mission as the chairperson of the SADC Troika on Politics, Defence, and Security, described the elections in various SADC member states during his tenure as “reasonably peaceful.”

However, he made no effort to retract the official report led by former Zambian Vice President Nevers Mumba, which detailed the irregularities in Zimbabwe’s electoral process.