A DELEGATION of the South African ruling African National
Congress (ANC) party, which arrived in Harare last night, will today hold a
crucial indaba with the Zanu PF Central Committee to discuss challenges
bedevilling the region and come up remedies of tackling them.
Upon arrival at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International
Airport, ANC secretary-general Cde Ace Magashule said the South African ruling
party would hold closed-door meetings with their Zanu PF counterparts led by
secretary for Administration, Cde Obert Mpofu today.
“We are going to have a meeting with Zanu PF to discuss
various issues,” said Cde Magushule.
In an earlier communiqué, Cde Magashule said the meeting
between the two parties was a bilateral engagement of former liberation
movements requested by the national executive council (NEC) of the ANC to
exchange notes on matters affecting the region.
Apart from Cde Magashule, the ANC delegation includes,
party national chairman Cde Samson Gwede Mantashe, Cde Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula
(member of the NEC and Minister of Defence and Military Veterans), Cde Tony
Yengeni (member of the NEC and National Working Committee (NWC), and
chairperson of the NEC on Peace and Stability), Cde Lindiwe Zulu (member of the
NEC, chairperson of the NEC on International Relations and Minister of Social
Development) and Cde Enoch Godongwana (member of NEC and chairperson of the NEC
on Economic Transformation.
“We would like to have bilateral discussions with the
leadership of the Central Committee of Zanu PF. We are looking forward to
fruitful and constructive engagements between our two sister parties,” read the
communiqué from Cde Magashule, in part.
The ANC delegation was met at Robert Gabriel Mugabe
International Airport by a team led by Defence Minister and ZANU PF national
chairperson Cde Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri.
In a statement, Zanu PF acting spokesperson Cde Patrick Chinamasa
said the ANC delegation would only meet with Zanu PF as the two parties were
sister parties with a shared history, and today faced similar threats from
detractors who among other things wanted to manufacture a non-existent crisis
in the region.
Cde Chinamasa said Zanu PF would use the bilateral
engagement with its sister party to clear the unfounded assertions of a crisis
in Zimbabwe.
“The ANC delegation will meet the Zanu PF delegation led by
the Secretary for Administration Dr Obert Mpofu as part of party to party
engagements. We are also aware that this visit is taking place against the
backdrop of false claims of a nation in crisis. Zanu PF will take the
opportunity to share the reality on the ground in Zimbabwe, South Africa and in
the region candidly and frankly with their revolutionary sister the ANC.
“Following enquiries from various quarters and our friends
from the media in particular on the purpose of this meeting. Zanu PF wishes to
make it categorically clear that this is a meeting between the Zanu PF
delegation and the ANC delegation only,” said Cde Chinamasa.
In their attempt to amplify a doomsday scenario in
Zimbabwe, Western embassies, working with the opposition in Zimbabwe have
engaged the services of South African and the local media to manufacture a
non-existent crisis by churning unsubstantiated reports of a country that is in
a crisis.
It is in this regard that the ANC team is expected to be
debriefed by the Zanu PF team on the true picture obtaining in the country that
include President Mnangagwa’s open door policy with all Zimbabweans and his
re-engagements efforts that have been lauded world as panacea for bringing the
country back to the community of nations.
The South African delegation will leave Zimbabwe tomorrow.
Herald
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