THE ruling Zanu PF says contrary to claims by its
opponents, it is happy to engage with the opposition in a bid to find solutions
for Zimbabwe’s decades-old political and economic crises, the Daily News On
Sunday reports.
In addition, it says, it welcomes the role that South
Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa and his African National Congress (ANC) are
playing to assist the country to overcome these challenges.
This comes as calls for President Emmerson Mnangagwa to
hold much-needed dialogue with key stakeholders that include the opposition
have reached fever pitch.
Speaking to the Daily News On Sunday yesterday, Zanu PF
secretary for administration Obert Mpofu said the former liberation movement
had no problems engaging the opposition — as this was consistent with the
ruling party’s post-2017 modus operandi.
“Thank you for allowing me … to discuss the Zimbabwean
question, whose major pivot of contestations of power have been both positively
and maliciously fore-grounded, either in the interest of promoting genuine
national development, or an artificial political crisis narrative.
“To this end, and in pursuit of our widened democratic
space, courtesy of the values of the Second Republic, we welcome the proposal
by the ANC to engage with other actors within the equation matrix of the said
‘Zimbabwean Crisis’.
“The ANC will do so in the context of the historical
fraternal links which our political cultures in both Zimbabwe and South Africa
are grounded on.
“In essence, this expresses both Zanu PF and the ANC’s sincere
propensity towards sustainable democracy in the region,” Mpofu told the Daily
News On Sunday.
“This will be a significant development as it will
substantiate how former liberation movements (FLMs) are extending the space for
political dialogue to political parties which are deep-rooted in challenging
the very existence of African nationalism.
“So, the clarion call for engagement on the part of the ANC
dovetails with what we have seen here at home through the establishment of the
Political Actors Dialogue (Polad).
“So, as liberation fronts of Africa, we are cultivating a
culture of cross-cutting political engagement to destabilise the polarisation
which has kept the post-colonial state in Africa in civil unrest and massive
conflict.
“So, instead of looking at the ANC as a mere facilitator of
dialogue in narrow contemporary limits, one needs to look at the ANC as a
brother to Zimbabwe’s national interests, in as much as Zanu PF is kith and kin
to South-Africa’s continued fight for political and economic emancipation,”
Mpofu said further.
He also said Zanu PF’s decision to allow the ANC to meet
with the opposition and civil society organisations in future, as part of
trying heal the political rifts in the country, was neither new nor sudden.
“You will recall that in 2008 we enabled dialogue to take
place between ourselves and the opposition.
“From the very foundation of the Second Republic under
President Emmerson Mnangagwa we created a far-reaching policy position for
sustainable political dialogue through the 1 August violence commission of
inquiry.
“This was a ground-breaking precedent to the future of
political dialogue in our country.
This comes after ANC bigwigs visited Harare last week for
bilateral talks with Zanu PF, which gave them the green light to meet with
local opposition groups and other key stakeholders in future.
The two former liberation movements were described as
having been very candid and robust with each other in their heart-to-heart
dialogue, which was held at the Zanu PF headquarters in Harare.
At the end of their visit, the ANC bigwigs implored both
Zanu PF and the opposition to work together in the interest of the country, and
to end Zimbabwe’s myriad challenges.
Briefing the media, ANC secretary-general, Ace Magashule,
said the meeting with their Zanu PF counterparts had progressed well as both
parties were “frank with each other”.
“We had very frank, open and robust discussions and we
committed ourselves to introspection and renewal of our values.
“We have agreed that at the same time, at the centre of
whatever we do as liberation movements should be our people who are still
marginalised and jobless because that is our work.
“We have agreed that as the ANC, we came here to engage
with Zanu PF and yes we have agreed that we will come back to meet other
stakeholders or whoever you refer to …
so that we understand and comprehend the challenges.
“We have received requests from Transform Zimbabwe
political party, the United States ambassador, Simba
Makoni, Zapu and the MDC Alliance … we agreed with Zanu PF
that it was important that we meet them .
“So we are going to arrange for our coming back to meet
them,” Magashule said.
The ANC heavyweights also said they had agreed with Zanu PF
that while Zimbabwe was facing challenges economically and politically, that
did not amount to a crisis.
“In terms of issues of human rights, we have said as
liberation movements this is what we have fought for and what we were fighting
against during colonialism, and that therefore we should by all means respect
human rights.
“We are the first to say we respect human rights, freedom
of association, freedom of speech and all the basic freedoms which are there
universally.
“So, we re-committed ourselves time to ensure that we
listen to the views of others while we continue to interact and that is why we
will engage other parties and stakeholders.
“We will come back to meet with them so that we encourage
interaction.
“We cannot dictate to Zimbabweans what to do because it is
a sovereign country like any other and therefore as fraternal organisations we
continue to to engage so that we have one understanding in terms of human
rights,” Magashule added.
The meeting came as the calls for Mnangagwa to hold
national talks with all key local stakeholders have now reached a crescendo —
in the wake of Zimbabwe’s deepening political and economic crises.
South Africa and its leaders — including former presidents
Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma — have in the past successfully mediated Zimbabwe’s
political crises.
A decade ago, both Mbeki and Zuma helped to broker the
stability-inducing 2008 government of national unity between opposition giant
Morgan Tsvangirai and former president Robert Mugabe — who are both late —
following the hotly disputed 2008 presidential election.
Zuma also assisted in minimising Zimbabwe’s chaotic
approach to the equally disputed 2013 national elections. Daily News
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