Unisa online - Unisa hosts third Peace, Safety and Human Rights lecture

Prof. Mandla Makhanya (Pro Vice-Chancellor) with speakers Mrs Elinor Sisulu and Mr Arnold Tsunga

Prof. Mandla Makhanya and Mrs Farieda Omar

Dullah Omar’s son, Mr Rustum Omar, delivered a message on behalf of the Omar family

Implications of Zimbabwe’s power sharing deal under the spotlight

Mr Arnold Tsunga, the immediate past Chairperson for Crises in Zimbabwe Coalition and recipient of the prestigious Human Rights Watch – Human Rights Defenders Award 2006-07, and Elinor Sisulu, acclaimed writer and human rights activist, shared their thoughts on ‘Political negotiations in Zimbabwe: Implications for peace, security and observance of human rights in Southern Africa’ at Unisa’s third annual Peace, Safety and Human Rights lecture. The lecture, in memory of Abdullah Omar, was held on Wednesday 22 October in the Old Fort Conference Centre, Constitution Hill, Johannesburg.

In their address Tsunga and Sisulu said that while thousand jubilant Zimbabweans welcomed the signing of the power-sharing deal brokered by former South African president Thabo Mbeki, they were among the civil society activists who were skeptical about the power sharing formula, believing that it raised more questions than answers. Their suspicions were confirmed and the deal was soon in tatters.

The speakers talked about the serious violations of human rights before and after the elections and power-sharing agreement. They said former president Mbeki’s quiet diplomacy had also stifled human rights discourse on Zimbabwe at the Commonwealth, at the United Nations and other international fora.

They described the current situation in Zimbabwe as a ‘humanitarian crisis’ in which the education and health systems were collapsing. They also alluded to the regional implications of Zimbabwe’s crisis as neighbouring countries could not absorb the ever-increasing number of fleeing Zimbabweans. Among others, the magnitude of the Zimbabwean influx contributed to the xenophobic violence in South Africa. Apart from the refugee issue there were the dangers posed by the collapsed health system in a neighbouring country as outbreaks of diseases were not easily confined to borders.

Prof Kopano Ratele (Acting Director: Institute for Social and Health Sciences and Programme Director at the event) and Mrs Farieda Omar

They concluded their address with the plea that to avoid disaster, the region must take a more proactive stance in the Zimbabwean crisis. “The power-sharing deal has been made, it must now be implemented and neighbouring governments must put their muscle behind the implementation,” they said.

The annual Peace, Safety and Human Rights lecture, an initiative of Unisa’s Institute for Social and Health Sciences, is an attempt to foster dialogue around issues of peace and safety as basic human rights, especially in the face of high levels of injury-related mortality and disability in Africa and elsewhere in the world. Furthermore, the lecture series is intended to pay tribute to the late Abdullah Omar's legacy in human rights and safety promotion during his tenure as Minister of Justice (1994) and Minister of Transport (1999). Pro Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Mandla Makhanya, reassured the audience in his welcome address that Unisa was as committed the advancement of a safer South Africa and securing freedom and equality for all South Africans as the late Abdullah Omar.

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