Exiled Former Zanu-PF Top Brass Urge ANC to Intervene in Zimbabwe Crisis

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines, News, News Around Africa, South Africa, Southern Africa Monday, August 10th, 2020

By Daniel Jones, Harare

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) -Two exiled former Zanu-PF bigwigs who fled the country after the ouster of former President Robert Mugabe have written to South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC) requesting the liberation party to save Zimbabwe’s ruling party from military capture.

Adding their voices on the growing call for the region to intervene in the Zimbabwean crisis, former Zanu-PF Politburo members and ministers Professor Jonathan Moyo and Patrick Zhuwao said Zanu-PF had lost its values.

Prof Moyo and Zhuwao, both close allies to the former president and members of the anti-Mnangagwa G40 faction, said no other political formation in Zimbabwe could decisively deal with the country’s crisis besides ANC.

“We are requesting the ANC to positively and substantively intervene to help save the tradition, ethos and values of the liberation movement in Zimbabwe.

“We believe that the ANC faces a very high risk of having a rogue neighbour north of the Limpopo. Zanu-PF is no longer the liberation movement that it used to be. It is our considered view that the ANC both as a sister liberation movement and as Africa’s oldest most democratic liberation movement is best placed to serve Zimbabwe by saving its liberation movement,” read a letter the two posted on Twitter platform.

They accused the security forces of using the 2017 coup which replaced Mugabe with Manngagwa to entrench factional interests.

Prof Moyo and Zhuwao said Zimbabwe is in its current mess because of the security forces alignment to Team Lacoste, Mnangagwa’s faction during Mugabe rule.

They said it is wrong to regard Zanu-PF as a liberation movement because the struggle was fought by all Zimbabweans.

“It is instructive to note that when the military staged the November 2017 coup in Zimbabwe it presented seven demands to President Mugabe. Out of the seven, six represented interests of a Zanu-PF faction linked to and supported by the military and the other demand was about the tenure interests of the military commanders,” read the letter.

The two, once known as the brains behind Zanu-PF’s policies during Mugabe era, offered to assist the ANC in dealing with the issue.

“We don’t believe that there is an alternative political formation in Zimbabwe which can address this crisis. We are convinced that it is critically important to confront the elephant in the room which in our view is a liberation movement in Zimbabwe which is physically and hegemonically disintegrating.

“In our assessment, while this disintegration is palpable, we believe it can be rescued, reversed and restored. More particularly we think the ANC can play a pivotal role in the rescue, reversal and restoration. If this is in order, we avail ourselves to a process of engagement and discussion to pinpoint the threats and opportunities that are present,” said the two.

This comes after South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa last week gave in to pressure from his citizens and opposition party leaders to intervene is his capacity as Africa Union chair.

Ramaphosa appointed an envoy comprising former security minister Sydney Mufamadi and former speaker of parliament and ex-ANC chair Baleka Mbete to engage government and relevant stakeholders in Zimbabwe on the crisis.

Embattled Mnangagwa has vowed to flush out critics as he denounced “dark forces” he described as “a few rogue Zimbabweans” and “terrorist opposition groupings.”

His government has also indicated that it is crafting a law criminalizing criticizing one’s country.

Zimbabweans based in South Africa last Friday protested in front of the country’s embassy in Pretoria against economic hardships and crackdown on political opposition and citizens.