Source: Leave us alone: Zanu PF – NewsDay Zimbabwe
BY MOSES MATENGA
ZANU PF has reacted angrily to the global outcry to stop human rights abuses and accused its critics, including the South Africa’s ruling African National Congress officials of lying.
The party’s information director Tafadzwa Mugwadi told South African media on Wednesday that Zimbabwe was at peace and simply enforcing lockdown regulations.
He said just like any other country, including South Africa, the security forces had been brutal during lockdown enforcement, but Harare never poked its nose in its neighbours’ businesses.
Mugwadi accused the United States of sponsoring and pushing an “anti-Zimbabwe” agenda by “spreading falsehoods” over the situation in Zimbabwe.
“We have seen, quite regrettably and unfortunately, that there are social media groups which are funded to go on a specific mission to vilify this country and undermine its leadership,” he said.
“You saw this hashtag on social media and senior political leaders in different jurisdictions commenting on issues to do with Zimbabwe, which they are not even aware about, but they cite social media as the source of that information.”
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa last week dispatched special envoys to Harare to meet President Emmerson Mnangagwa following a social media #ZimbabweanLivesMatter campaign over abuse of human rights by the Zimbabwean government.
A three-member special team that included former Vice-President Baleka Mbete, Advocate Ngoako Abel Ramatlhodi and former Cabinet minister Sydney Mufamadi have since left the country, but Zanu PF has insisted there was no crisis in the country.
The African Union and United Nations, among others, have issued a statement condemning rights abuses by the Harare administration after South African opposition parties and ruling party African National Congress officials such as secretary-general Ace Magashule and chairperson of the international relations committee Lindiwe Zulu flagged the country for brutality over its citizens.
Despite evidence of abuse of rights ahead of the July 31 protests, Mugwadi said Zimbabwe had nothing to hide and anyone who wanted first-hand information was free to visit the
country.
However, MDC Alliance secretary for international relations Gladys Hlatywayo said Zimbabwe’s fervent denials were designed to hide its horrific deeds. She also said the MDC Alliance remained keen to meet Ramaphosa’s envoys.
“Our understanding of the initiative by President Ramaphosa is that the envoys were supposed to come to Zimbabwe and engage with different stakeholders in relation to the situation in Zimbabwe,” Hlatywayo said.
“We received an invitation through the South African embassy to be on standby to meet the special envoys. We sat and only to be told that unfortunately the meeting can be cancelled because the envoys will be going back to South Africa.”
She said her party suspected Mnangagwa blocked their meeting with the envoys to try to cover up the truth about human rights abuses in the country.
COMMENTS
This is Zanu at its best making the Rhodesian security forces look like professionals. This has all been done before in Matabeleland when Shiri had a Genocide and murdered 11 civilians a night for 5 solid years – 20 000 people at 11 a night will take five years. Zanu knows what it is doing and Covid is a cover.
Put some real sanctions on this Party of thieves
I just can’t fall for this, since when are Zimbabweans so cared for by the SA government and its opposition parties, even so by the local celebrities. Ha ha ha ha. How many Zimbabweans have been killed or burnt to death in that country and how many times has this barbaric behavior repeated it self. Where were the local celebrities to condemn it, at times the so concerned ANC government has been pivotal in calling for xenophobic attacks on Zimbabweans and other foreign nationals in that country. Now that Covid has denied the local celebrities an opportunity for gigs now they use the platform to care so much for Zimbabwean lives to pocket something during the down. On the other side Ace Magashule pictured with G40 members, those people have questions to answer in Zimbabwe, surely Zimbabweans haven’t forgotten how they have tommented the nation when they had the ability to do so. Now they are feeling the pinch of their fall from grace and are desperately looking for avenues to destabilise Zimbabwe.As for me I’m still enjoying the idea of the second republic and as for MDC-A I’m happy to renounce my vote from your party because you have failed to make me believe a better future will be in MDC-A.