Zanu Pf chides ANC secretary general

Harare (New Ziana) – The ruling Zanu PF party on Friday castigated ANC secretary general Ace Magashule for his unfounded assertions which portrayed Zimbabwe as a country which is in a “deep human rights crisis.”

In an interview with a local news station, Magashule claimed to have talked to Zimbabwean exiles who allegedly informed him of increasing state sponsored brutality.

Magashule’s interview followed an intensified smear campaign against Zimbabwe on social media under hash tags such as #ZimbabweanLivesMatter, alleging human rights abuses happening in the country.

But, Zanu PF acting secretary for information Patrick Chinamasa expressed dissatisfaction over Magashule’s utterances, which he said were devoid of any evidence.

Chinamasa said instead of using the media, Magashule was supposed to highlight any concerns through channels of communication between the two revolutionary parties.

“Zanu PF takes strong exception to the utterances that have been attributed to comrade Ace Magashule the secretary general of the ANC where he appeared hoodwinked by those seeking to destabilise Zimbabwe through peddling falsehoods,” he said.

“As a revolutionary sister, it has never been in our tradition to censure a fellow revolutionary movement or leaders using megaphone approaches more so when such utterances are misinformed and baseless to say the least.”

Chinamasa also rubbished claims that the government was using the Covid-19 national lockdown to “clamp down” on human rights.

He said, Zimbabwe, just like South Africa and other countries throughout the world, was implementing strict lockdowns in order to curtail the spread of Covid-19.

“Zanu PF reminds comrade Magashule that different countries have employed different measures and tactics to enforce Covid-19 lockdown measures to a non-compliant public to protect their lives. It is in this light that we have seen on social media, videos of South African soldiers beating their non-compliant citizens using fists and sjamboks while in some regrettable circumstances, we have seen them spraying rubber bullets on their citizens resulting in serious injuries and deaths to the extent that it has been reported that members of the SANDF killed 8 citizens in the streets during enforcement operations. Zanu PF has not uttered a word in public.

“We have watched Marikana Massacres that remain unprecedented since the turn of the millennium by government forces but we have sought to respect South Africa’s capacity and right to deal with those matters internally. We however are taken aback by these irresponsible utterances by comrade Magashule, who by all means should have sought clarifications from his counterpart comrade Dr Obert Mpofu, the secretary for administration for Zanu PF. Honestly for Magashule to rely on a fortune seeking organisation like Tajamuka or faceless social media posts on matters of Zimbabwe is disturbing as it is shocking.,” he said.

“We have seen our people being victims of systematic xenophobic attacks with some ANC leaders spreading hostile messages that worsened those stacks against our people but we have sought to address that using normal diplomatic channels.”

Chinamasa said, being a member of a revolutionary party, it was sad that Magashule was choosing to side with counter revolutionaries.

He said the utterances by Magashule threatened the comradely and revolutionary solidarity that exists between the two sister revolutionary parties which was built on the foundations of trust and mutual respect and not on rumours and gossips.

“Zanu PF is extremely disappointed that Cde Magashule has sought to become a collusive player in support of those working to undermine this republic and its constitutionally elected government,” he said.

“For the record, there is no brutality of whatever form happening in Zimbabwe, but enforcement of lockdown regulations in line with recommendations by the World Health Organisation and our Ministry of Health and Child Care and what has become common practice on Covid-19.”

New Ziana