The governing party in Zimbabwe, the ZANU-PF, has refuted reports that former South African President Thabo Mbeki is in the country to mediate on the political crisis in the country. Mbeki reportedly met with Mnangagwa as well as opposition leader Nelson Chamisa.
The National Patriotic Front (NFP) in Zimbabwe says it has not yet received communication from Mbeki on any efforts to resolve the political crisis in the impoverished country.
Zimbabwe is battling high inflation, corruption, a crippling drought and power outages.
Kenny Mandaza is the spokesperson for the ZANU-PF in South Africa, “President Mbeki has come to meet President Mnangagwa at the invitation of the President. He wanted to understand the progress that the President of Zimbabwe has made so far and what the challenges that he has been meeting. In his briefing, he commended the President on the work that he has done politically and economically to ensure that there is progress in Zimbabwe. Our President has been very clear in terms of the dialogue by opening the dialogue, the President has invited all political actors to be on board it would not need any mediator,” says Mandaza.
NPF Spokesperson Jealousy Mawarire says they do not have any knowledge of Mbeki being in the country as a mediator but would welcome Mbeki’s intervention.
“We don’t know why he’s here, we are yet to be contacted as a political party. We have been relying on news outlets to understand. We have had this conflict over the past two decades and it is incumbent upon us as Zimbabweans to find each other and when there are efforts by those that are coming from SADC or South Africa to create a platform where Zimbabweans can talk. I think it’s really something that we appreciate as a political party. We are yet to be invited to meet Mbeki, we really wonder why we haven’t been called to meet him as yet,” says Mawarire.
