Zimbabwe still far from rejoining Commonwealth, says British Ambassador

British Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Melanie Robinson, said on Monday that Zimbabwe was still far from rejoining the Commonwealth, owing to its failure to complete prescribed political and economic reforms required for readmission. 

Robinson spoke to local media, following a visit to Vice President Constantino Chiwenga in Harare on Monday.  

“We discussed the Commonwealth and from the beginning, the British have been very clear we would like to see Zimbabwe back in the Commonwealth and at the point where the economic and political reform programme has been completed and we have seen good progress on that then that will be the time to look at membership.” 

Robinson continued that “we are currently somewhere away from that” but added that Britain looked forward “to seeing these reforms underway and for us to be able to discuss the membership.” 

Zimbabwe was originally pulled out of the Commonwealth in 2003 by then President Robert Mugabe. The country had been suspended by the association of former British colonies the previous year, following a presidential election marred by state sponsored violence. 

President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government has faced criticism for its failure to break from this ruinous legacy of the Mugabe era. The country faces prolonged economic deterioration, run-away inflation, and chronic cash and fuel shortages. The ministry is further accused of forcibly imposing compliance among its disgruntled citizens, carrying out state killings against protestors.  

Observers fear it is unlikely that the state is keen on breaking away from its brutal past. Human rights defenders are still routinely victimised through arrest or abduction and the government responded to a recent doctors’ strike by sacking them.