Zanu PF tells ANC: "Zimbabwe is not South Africa’s province"

HARARE – Zanu PF has reacted angrily to the statement by an ANC delegate visiting the country on a diplomatic mission to assess the crisis that Zimbabwe is a province of South Africa.

Acting spokesman of the party, Patrick Chinamasa dismissed the comments saying the country is not a province of South Africa and the latter has no authority to comment on or even influence the affairs of other sovereign nations.

“Zimbabwe is not a province of South Africa, we clearly agree on that. In the context of international relations, South Africa is not Zimbabwe’s big brother. It has no oversight role to play in Zimbabwe or the region,” Chinamasa said.

Zanu PF has been criticized by many quarters inside and outside the country for its human rights record, which forced South African leader Cyril Ramaphosa to send a special diplomatic team to try to solve the problems in this troubled South African state.

The diplomatic team’s mission is to find a way to engage incumbent President Emmerson Mnangagwa (Zanu PF) and opposition leader Nelson Chamisa (MDC Alliance), alongside other key players.

However, the Zanu PF has played cat and mouse by telling South Africa that it has no role to play in Zimbabwean affairs.

“It [South Africa] has no mediating role to play in South Africa, Zimbabwe or any other country, and as it is not a province of South Africa, it follows that there is no interventionist approach in the way that South Africa would go about us.

“This became quite clear in our discussions, and that is why we removed any interventionist approach in the how we deal with each other,” Chinamasa said during his weekly press briefings at Zanu PF headquarters.

However, the ruling party said it managed to raise other important issues with ANC delegates who arrived in the country on Tuesday.

“I would also like to point out that the ANC and Zanu PF were able to present the existential threats directed against the ANC and Zanu PF as revolutionary movements and not only against these two but against the rest of the liberation movements in our region to identify, clearly identify.

“We are aware of the external and internal forces working day and night to undermine liberation movements.

“We also agreed, and one point I would like to highlight is that we agreed to further integrate our region and our economies, and of course we recognized that success in this endeavor will take time,” Chinamasa concluded.