President Emmerson Mnangagwa has stressed that all is well between his Zanu PF party and South Africa’s ruling ANC amid widespread reports that the sister revolutionary parties had clashed over the handling of the purported crisis in the country.
Addressing party delegates at the opening of the 13th Central Committee Session in Harare this morning, Mnangagwa refuted claims that the recent tour of the ANC to establish the situation in the country had created a rift.
“The crisis exists in their mind. We have challenges like other countries. We will not seek outside mediation to come and deal with challenges they also have,”
“We can never be shaken by social media. We have elements peddling falsehoods that ZANU PF and ANC are not in good books. Yet i chat with President Ramaphosa almost daily,” said Mnangagwa.
Mangagwa’s administration has been under the spotlight in recent months following cases of alleged state enabled abductions and arbitrary arrests of opposition figures and journalists.
Last month, South African leader Cyril Ramaphosa under international pressure to intervene in the Zimbabwean situation sent an ANC delegation led by its secretary-general Ace Magashule on a fact finding mission.
Magushule had earlier been quoted in South African media attesting to a possibility of human rights abuses in Zimbabwe against opposition leaders and activists.
Despite the two parties holding several talks, Zanu Pf somewhat took offense of the fact that the ANC acted as a “prefect” in internal issues of Zimbabwe as stressed by Zanu PF acting spokesperson, Patrick Chinamasa.
“We note that this is not the first time a senior ANC leader has sought to speak like Zimbabwe’s prefect…To find therefore, a person of the stature of the secretary general of the ANC making such deplorable utterances on the basis of old videos some of which have been imported from situations outside Zimbabwe but attributed to Zimbabwe in the past, being resurrected by keyboard activists is an embarrassment not only to himself but the organization he represents.” said Chinamasa last month.
This was not the only time a top Zanu PF official publicly expressed disdain over the ANC’s visit to Harare with party director for information, Tafadzwa Mugwadi also criticizing the ANC for having an interest in Zimbabwean matters.
“It is unfortunate, but we find it imperative to inform our sister revolutionary party, the ANC to focus their attention on matters affecting South Africans rather than attempt to experiment attention seeking gimmicks in the name of our stable nation and our peaceful people,” he was recently quoted in a state-run newspaper.
However, Mnangagwa’s sentiments have been perceived as a gesture to sugarcoat some strong utterances that have been previously directed to the ANC by some Zanu PF members lately.
Zanu Pf is currently holding its 113th Central Committee Session, under the theme “Winning the fight against Covid-19 and saving lives: 2020 the year of Production and Trade Towards Vision 2030.”
