ANC refused to be cowed by ZANU PF

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By Dr Phillan Zamchiya

Inside the African National Congress (ANC)’s delegation to Zimbabwe
Good Evening Reader. The African National Congress (ANC) has dispatched a six member delegation of its National Executive Committee (NEC) to have bilateral discussions with the leadership of the Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU PF)’s politburo members on 9 September 2020. The world of former liberation movements is so secretive that it is difficult to tell with certainty what is going on.
One easy way is to simply dismiss the delegation as a solidarity squad to a save a sister party and sink the citizens’ aspirations. I choose to take a different view.

The actors and nature of the delegation possibly reveal the ANC’s current thinking about the crisis.

1) The very act of dispatching a high powered delegation to Zimbabwe amidst the Covid 19 pandemic is an indication that the ANC is not satisfied by ZANU PF ‘s narratives that there is no crisis in Zimbabwe but just difficulties. In their view, it seems ZANU PF is being dishonesty if not lying about the nature, breadth and depth of Zimbabwe’s problems. If the ANC was satisfied that there is no crisis then they could not have bothered to send such a high level delegation

.2) The ANC has refused to be cowed by the aggressiveness of ZANU PF in the past month. They have sent the very same characters that were publicly denounced by ZANU PF. The head of the delegation, Elias Magashule, the Secretary General of the ANC, raised concerns about human rights violations in Zimbabwe on 6 August. Patrick Chinamasa of ZANU PF rebuked him for speaking ‘like Zimbabwe’s prefect’. The ANC’s international Relations Committee Chair, Lindiwe Zulu, who is also part of the delegation also publicly acknowledged the crisis and bemoaned that most Zimbabweans have been stripped off their dignity.

To include such officials is partly an act of defiance and courage.

3) The ANC seems to now appreciate that there is a crisis of militarisation of the state and society in Zimbabwe especially after the military coup of 17 November 2017. They tend to understand that the military elites who wield the balance of power participated in the liberation struggle and hence consider themselves as the guardians of national sovereignty. This is probably why they have included South Africa’s Minister of Defense and Military Veterans, Novisiwe Mapisa-Nqakula, who can return a salute, understands the military language and that of the veterans of the liberation struggle.

4) The deployment of Samson Gwede Mantashe, the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, shows that the ANC is prepared to subtly show its leverage points. ZANU PF cannot deny that there is an energy crisis in the country. It is fact that the Zimbabwean Government only recently cleared its debt with Eskom (South Africa’s electricity public utility) and was given the leeway to borrow more power. If Eskom stops to assist Zimbabwe, the country will be plunged in an unprecedented shortage of supply of power. South Africa’s business community also has some grip on Zimbabwe’s mineral assets with vast investments. They probably have told Mantashe how the business environment is choking.

5) The ANC now probably understands that Zimbabwe has an institutionalised problem of state sponsored violence and gross human rights violations. This is a result of an increase in cases of abductions of government critics and opposition supporters, torture and sexual violence. Actors involved in human rights violations and acting outside the laws and procedures are not held to account by formal state agencies, which perpetuates the culture of impunity. These acts usually undermine the social contract, national cohesion and stability. It is therefore not an accident that the delegation includes Tony Yengeni, Chairperson of the ANC NEC on Peace and Stability. Issues related to peace and stability will form part of the difficult conversation.

6) The ANC also probably understands that Zimbabwe’s international isolation is hurting the country and the region. The re-engagement program outlined by ZANU PF seems not to be working. Hence the inclusion of Lindiwe Zulu who is the chairperson of the ANC’s International Relations Committee. As mentioned above, she has already said in the public that it is high time the former liberation movements have a serious and frank conversation. Her inclusion shows the ANC is ready to ask those tough questions and she is the one likely to raise them.

7) The inclusion of Enoch Godongwana, the ANC’s chairperson of the NEC on Economic Transformation, shows that th¹e delegation appreciates that the economic crisis is deepening and there seems to be no solution in sight to the structural regression. Roving think-tanks like Godongwana will not labour to show that there is an economic crisis of epic proportions in Zimbabwe. Related to this will be evidence of thousands of economic migrants living in South Africa.

8) Reader, the ANC understands the practical constraints. ZANU PF insists on national sovereignty and non-interference in domestic affairs, denounces South Africa’s unilateralism, condemns the politics of sub-imperialism and ridicules the dominance of white capital in South Africa as a way to delegitimise ANC. In the bid to tread carefully in the diplomatic world, the ANC has found a legitimate entry point that of sisterhood born out of the liberation struggle. This is a platform that ZANU PF cannot easily reject or delegitimise.

9) If ZANU PF is going to acknowledge the crisis to some extent even as it blames sanctions, the West and the MDC Alliance at this platform, the ANC will have the leverage to say let us continue on a party to party basis and allow and complement government to government interventions. A positive outcome would mean President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Special Envoys namely Sydney Mufamadi, Baleka Mbete and Ngoako Ramatlholdi easily returning to Zimbabwe and complete their mission started on 11 August to meet civil society, opposition political parties and other stakeholders as a way to find a sustainable common solution.

10) Reader, one clear thing is that the ANC is not there to do any political bidding for opposition parties. The outcome and response will still largely depend on internal and regional pressure and active mobilization by progressive forces.

-Dr Phillan Zamchiya is human rights activist and former student leader