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ANC Secretary General Ace Magashule, left, and Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa. (Photos: Gallo Images / Daily Sun / Lucky Morajane | EPA-EFE / Aaron Ufumeli)
A high-ranking ANC delegation arrived in Zimbabwe on Tuesday night to meet with the ruling Zanu-PF, but still unclear on whether they would also meet with the opposition and others.
Upon arrival at Harare airport, ANC Secretary General Ace Magashule, who is heading the delegation, told local journalists that they had come to Zimbabwe to meet with Zanu-PF.
But Magashule added that many others also wanted to meet them. The delegation will discuss this, he said. Other sources said they would only know if they would meet others after meeting with the Zanu-PF politburo on Wednesday. That made it look like they would have to get approval from Zanu-PF. Zimbabwe’s ruling party evidently does not want them to meet anyone else. He said in a statement:
“Following consultations from various quarters and from our friends in the media in particular on the purpose of this meeting, Zanu-PF wishes to make it categorically clear that this is a meeting between Zanu-PF and the ANC delegation only.”
Officials from the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change Alliance (MDC-A) led by Nelson Chamisa, said Daily maverick that no meeting with the ANC delegation had yet been scheduled. It seems like a repeat of what happened in August.
When the special envoys of President Cyril Ramaphosa, former Cabinet Minister Sydney Mufamadi, and former Parliamentary Speaker Baleka Mbete visited Zimbabwe at the time, they also intended to meet with the two MDC formations and various members of civil society. But after they met President Emmerson Mnangagwa, he did not allow them to see anyone else.
It is clear that the ANC wants to meet others on this mission. When announcing the ANC’s visit to Zimbabwe on August 31 after a meeting of the ANC’s National Executive Committee (NEC), President Ramaphosa said that the NEC had “expressed a deep desire” for the ANC to meet with other stakeholders. from Zimbabwe in addition to Zanu-PF “because it is clearly important that we get the broadest possible view of what is happening in Zimbabwe.”
But now it appears that the ANC is allowing Zanu-PF to dictate its itinerary. The problem is because the ANC and ZanuPF have very different ideas about the purpose of South Africa’s intervention in Zimbabwe.
Zanu-PF spokespersons have told local media that they see the meeting with the ANC primarily as an opportunity to discuss ways that South Africa could help Zimbabwe by persuading Western countries to lift the remaining sanctions against the country. They have emphasized that there is no crisis in Zimbabwe and that the perception of one is the creation of hostile media.
But Ramaphosa and other ANC government officials have made it clear that they need to speak with Zanu-PF to find ways to address a political, economic and social crisis that is increasingly spreading across South Africa’s borders.
At the same press conference after the NEC meeting, Ramaphosa said it was important to meet with Zimbabwean stakeholders to discuss how South Africa and Zimbabwe could support each other as South Africa was “having to deal with a situation at our borders”.
Sources said Daily maverick that the ANC delegation would be “frank and honest” in discussing the Zimbabwe crisis with Zanu-PF.
Other members of the ANC delegation are ANC President and Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Gwede Mantashe, Defense Minister and ANC member NEC Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, NEC and National Work Committee member Tony Yengeni, the Minister of Social Development and President of the NEC on International Relations Lindiwe Zulu and President of the NEC on Economic Transformation Enoch Godongwana. DM
