By Nyashadzashe Ndoro
After their visit to Zimbabwe this week, South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) has confirmed that the country is facing major challenges consisting of human rights abuses and vowed to remain frank in their engagements with Zanu PF.
Lindiwe Zulu, ANC’s international relations committee chairperson told journalists on landing at Waterkloof Airforce Base in Pretoria that the delegation engaged the government to desist from orchestrating human rights violations.
“..we had to put all those issues on the table, issues of human rights and others… we went beyond that.
“Unless we are frank with each other, it won’t help the situation. I can assure you, it was a meeting with a difference,” Zulu said.
ANC’s peace and stability committee, Toni Yengeni, who was one of the delegates, said that they had discovered that Zimbabwe had a crisis after they held a closed-door meeting with top ZANU PF officials on Wednesday.
Reports claim that they rebuked President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s under-fire administration for orchestrating human rights violations.
“There are problems in Zimbabwe, major challenges both of social, economic and to some extent of a political nature,”Yengeni said.
The ANC delegation comprised of chairperson and Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Gwede Mantashe, Defence Minister and ANC national executive committee (NEC) member Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, NEC and National Working Committee member Tony Yengeni, Social Development Minister and chairperson of the NEC on international relations Lindiwe Zulu and chairperson of the NEC on economic transformation Enoch Godongwana.
The delegation was led by ANC’s secretary-general Ace Magashule who urged the government to respect human rights.
“We have agreed that there were challenges in Zimbabwe that must be confronted. As liberation movements, we should respect human rights. We respect freedom of association and freedom of speech,” he said.
Zimbabwe is currently experiencing massive human rights violations perpetrated by Zanu PF’s under-fire administration which is battling an economic crisis partly blamed on corruption and mismanagement.
The past months have seen the arrest of journalists, political activists and opposition politicians.
