SOUTH Africa’s ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mphakama Mbete, has
refuted claims that President Cyril Ramaphosa’s special envoys snubbed the
country’s opposition and civil society organisations when they came to Harare
on Monday.
Mbete told the Daily News yesterday that while the envoys
had come to Zimbabwe with an open mind of engaging with other key local actors
if the opportunity presented itself, their main mission on this visit was to
meet with President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
This comes after the envoys — former South African vice
president Baleka Mbete and ex-ministers Sydney Mufamadi and Ngoako Ramatlhodi —
returned home soon after meeting Mnangagwa for more than two hours at State
House.
This prompted some opposition parties and civil society
groups to allege that the emissaries had been blocked from meeting them by
Mnangagwa.
The envoys were in Harare “to identify possible ways in
which South Africa can assist Zimbabwe” — amid rising tensions and allegations
of gross human rights violations in the country.
“The special envoys came to meet President Emmerson
Mnangagwa and they were also open to meeting any other key actors, including
members of the opposition and the civil society if the opportunity presented
itself.
“In this case, however, they met with the head of State of
Zimbabwe and decided to go back to South Africa and brief President Ramaphosa
on their meeting.
“Their wish is to meet with other key actors in Zimbabwe
and if an opportunity presents itself they will come back and meet them in
future,” Mbete told the Daily News.
The appointment of the envoys came after Zimbabwe had come
under intense local, regional and international scrutiny over alleged human
rights violations in the country — following the government’s heavy deployment
of police and soldiers ahead of the failed July 31 mass protests.
“The special envoys are expected to engage the Government
of Zimbabwe and relevant stakeholders to identify possible ways in which South
Africa can assist Zimbabwe,” Ramaphosa said last week when he announced their
appointment.
Soon after, presidential spokesperson George Charamba told
the Daily News that Ramaphosa had conferred with Mnangagwa about the special
envoys.
“The two leaders have been communicating and what you are
seeing is a result of an agreement which they reached to send envoys into the
country to discuss various issues.
“That is how we do diplomacy. That is how it is done by
following proper and clear channels.
“You don’t stand on top of a roof and shout whatever you
want to see happen and expect to see things being done your way. That is not
proper diplomacy,” Charamba said.
“So, the president is very much aware of the visit. The
envoys are coming and we are going to engage them and be as open as possible to
what they have to say,” he added.
Following the meeting with Mnangagwa on Monday, Mufamadi
revealed that the envoys had discussed with Mnangagwa the country’s situation,
as well as the possible solutions to its problems — adding that the finer
details of the meeting would be availed later.
“Myself and two of my colleagues, Ms Baleka Mbete and
Advocate Ngoako Ramatlhodi, we came here as envoys of the president of the
Republic of South Africa.
“We had an exchange with his counterpart. In other words we
listened to the rhythm of the situation and what is being done and the
intentions to do extra things and so on.
“I know you will not ask us to report to our president
through the media. We will be reporting to the president (Ramaphosa) who will
then interact with the public, in part through you, in due course,” Mufamadi
said.
But the MDC Alliance claimed that Mnangagwa had blocked the
envoys to meet with them, despite an earlier commitment to do so.
Alliance spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere said they had been
formally requested to attend a meeting with the special envoys, but were
surprised after being advised that the emissaries had departed without engaging
with them.
“We can only assume that the failure to meet the MDC
Alliance delegation was as a result of demands made by the Zanu PF delegation.
“We reiterate that Zimbabwe is in a state of crisis that
has been characterised by a de facto state of emergency, a crackdown on
citizens, abductions, arbitrary arrests of government critics and the political
persecution of journalists,” Mahere said.
On its part, the interim MDC leadership headed by Thokozani
Khupe said its planned meeting with the envoys had been deferred to a future
date.
“As MDC-T we welcome this development (the envoys’ meeting
with Mnangagwa) and remain positive that the two leaders in President Ramaphosa
and President Mnangagwa will get to the bottom of the issues bedevilling our
beautiful nation, and that Zimbabwe will once again experience unity, love and
harmony,” the party said.
Some civil society actors and churches expressed hope that
the envoys would push the country’s major political players to engage in
dialogue and work together to end the country’s mounting political and economic
crises.
“As the church, we have insisted that these issues need
urgent attention.
“We are convinced that a comprehensive national settlement
to all these issues should emerge from a broad-based and comprehensive national
dialogue, not only among political actors, but one that includes all sectors of
society.
“Our hope is that the South African envoys and the whole
global solidarity will catalyse the beginning of such a truthful, loving and
mutually inclusive national dialogue process.
“Let such global solidarity awaken the convergence of the
agency to build the Zimbabwe we want,” the Zimbabwe Heads of Christian
Denominations (ZHOCD) said. Daily News
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