(Last Updated on September 18, 2020 by Editor)
HARARE – The ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) has come out insisting that it will not allow South Africa to meet President Mnangagwa’s critics.
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) on Tuesday released a statement stating it’s intention to come back in the “foreseeable future” and meet other stakeholders among them the biggest opposition party, MDC-Alliance.
Other ANC senior officials such as Lindiwe Zulu have come out after the visit and said Zimbabwe is in a crisis and near a collapse.
Zimbabwe’s neighbouring country, has been trying to find ways to negotiate an end to the political stalemate in Zimbabwe which is also manifesting through an economic and social crisis.
So far two separate delegations have been dispatched and disappointingly have met President Mnangagwa and Zanu-PF only.
However, key Zanu-PF officials including President Mnangagwa, Patrick Chinamasa and Information and Publicity Director, Tafadzwa Mugwadi have come out guns blazing in response to the ANC statement.
Speaking before yesterday’s politburo meeting, Mnangagwa maintained that people must be told the “truth” that party envoys, are party envoys from one party to another and that Presidential envoys remain Presidential envoys from one president to another.
“Anyone who believed otherwise should continue dreaming,” said Mnangagwa.
After the politburo meeting, Chinamasa said “ANC should rein it’s errant elemants who are communicating unfairly on our nation, contrary to what was agreed on and endorsed by the two parties in the communique.”
According to Chinamasa these are the sentiments that were shared by the Politburo.
While on Tuesday Mugwadi said ANC was interfering in another country’s affairs.
Adding that,” for the record, there was no deliberation nor agreement on them coming back to meet anyone over the issues discussed.
All these statements are meant to reinforce Zanu-PF’s standpoint of denying that a crisis exist in Zimbabwe despite an international outcry over the continous cracking down of people’s rights with activists and journalists being the most targeted.
South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa has recently admitted that there is a crisis in Zimbabwe and it needs urgent attention as it is spilling into other borders.