Elections and stability in SADC: the Zimbabwe case

This policy brief examines the failure of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to enforce its democratic electoral standards, using Zimbabwe's July 2018 elections as a primary case study. The author argues that SADC's institutional weaknesses and a culture of 'brotherhood' solidarity among leaders prevent the effective implementation of the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections, leading to a culture of impunity for member states that violate democratic norms.

• SADC's revised Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections, adopted in 2015, are largely viewed as a mimicry of international norms rather than a genuine commitment to reform. While they include mechanisms like long-term observer missions and a compliance channel through the SADC Summit, they remain a "persuasive mechanism" that fails to coax member states into comprehensive democratic reforms.
• The 30 July 2018 harmonised elections in Zimbabwe are described as mostly free but lacking in fairness and credibility. Specific violations included the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) failing to provide timeous access to the voters' roll—releasing the updated version only on the eve of the election—and a lack of equal access to state media, with ZANU PF receiving 77% of media coverage compared to 11% for the MDC Alliance.
• SADC has consistently failed to sanction or reprimand Zimbabwe for electoral violations, prioritizing regional stability and solidarity over democratic principles. This is evidenced by the SADC Electoral Observation Missions (SEOM) reports from 2013 and 2018, which the author claims show a pattern of "minimalist implementation" and a failure to address repeat violations.
• The document identifies a crisis of leadership within SADC, noting that it lacks a "democracy champion" similar to Nigeria's role in ECOWAS. While South Africa is a regional economic power with advanced democratic governance, it has been reluctant to provide the decisive leadership necessary to hold other member states accountable.
• SADC's institutional framework is hampered by the dominance of strong statesmen and the absence of a full-fledged regional parliament. The author suggests that the SADC Parliamentary Forum should be transformed into a regional parliament to provide independent oversight and hold the SADC Summit accountable.

APA

Chikohomero, R. (2019). Elections and stability in SADC: the Zimbabwe case. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/pb-128.pdf

Chicago

Chikohomero, Ringisai. Elections and stability in SADC: the Zimbabwe case. Institute for Security Studies, 2019. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/pb-128.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Chikohomero |first1=Ringisai |title=Elections and stability in SADC: the Zimbabwe case |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |date=2019 |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/pb-128.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{chikohomero2019elections, author = {Chikohomero, Ringisai}, title = {{Elections and stability in SADC: the Zimbabwe case}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2019}, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/pb-128.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }