Zapu to establish government in exile

By MEL FRYKBERG

Zimbabwe opposition group, the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (Zapu), intends to establish a government in exile as an alternative to the current Zanu-PF-led government.

Mark Mbayiwa, treasurer-general of the party made the assertions during a rally in Johannesburg last week.

“We are going to form a government in exile and present it to the people of Zimbabwe and the international community as an alternative to the incompetence currently taking place back home,” said Mbayiwa.

“When the regime’s number one (President Robert) Mugabe fell in 2017, we suggested to Zimbabweans that we needed a transitional arrangement that would lead to credible elections.

“We were ignored and now the country is burning because of failure to correct underlying matters that affect both legitimacy and ease of running the country,” added the Zapu treasurer-general.

He added that his party would push towards the formation of a Transitional Authority.

Meanwhile, Harare’s relationship with the US appears to be on shaky ground after Zimbabwe’s ambassador to Tanzania Anselem Sanyatwe was placed on Washington’s sanctions list last week on the grounds of human rights abuses.

Sanyatwe is Zimbabwe’s first high-ranking official to be sanctioned since the ouster of long-time ruler Robert Mugabe in 2017.

Following Sanyatwe’s sanctioning, James Manzou, the secretary for foreign affairs and international trade, summoned the US ambassador to Zimbabwe, Brian Nichols, in to express Harare’s anger at Washington’s move.

Manzou said the step was regrettable as it came at a time when the Zimbabwean government was implementing political and economic reform. African News Agency/ANA