Zimbabwean academic Dr Ibbo Mandaza’s planned public lecture on the state of democracy in Zimbabwe and the region will be held on 28 September at Wits University’s O.R Tambo School of Leadership.
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) Secretary General, Fikile Mbalula tried in vain to block the event that was initially supposed to be held on 7 September.
The ANC regards itself as an ally of Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF party. Accordingly, Mbalula wanted to stop the lecture from happening because discussions will reflect on the recent disputed harmonised general elections held in Zimbabwe.
The seminar, dubbed “The State of Democracy in the SADC Region: A Reflection on the National Elections of Zimbabwe, was scheduled for September 7.
The Sunday World on Thursday reported that the school’s leadership headed by ANC national executive committee member David Masondo as principal, had questioned whether Mbalula had the authority to direct the programmes of the institution.
In trying to stop the lecture, Mbalula told the school that the ANC leadership was “engaged in a number of delicate engagements regarding the situation in Zimbabwe.”
“We note that the OR Tambo School has advertised a public lecture to be delivered by Ibbo Mandaza on The State of Democracy in the SADC Region: A Reflection on the National Elections of Zimbabwe on Thursday, 7 September 2023 (invitation attached),” Mbalula said.
“The OR Tambo School of Leadership has a proud tradition of promoting vigorous debate within the ranks of the movement. This must be encouraged.
“Whilst we respect the institutional autonomy of the School, it is also true that, in the public mind, domestically and internationally, it is inextricably linked to the ANC.
“Furthermore, the lecture is billed as a collaborative effort between the School and the ANC Johannesburg Region. This clearly constitutes an ANC platform.
“At the moment the leadership of the ANC is engaged in a number of delicate engagements regarding the situation in Zimbabwe. In this context, a public lecture, at this time, on what is clearly an ANC platform, would complicate these initiatives.
“It is in this context that we have requested that the lecture should not proceed on Thursday, 7 September 2023.
“We invite you to engage with us further on the details of these matters, and the possibility of the lecture being held in future, in a different format, and on a different platform.”
Of course it is going ahead. Unkile in zimbabe where mnangagwa is everything his word if final here the country belongs to us all we have a say. You can’t just wake up one morning and tell your wife and son to take a plane go to Belarus and do government duty AS WHO?