Activists in exile blame Zanu-PF for the crisis

Failure to resolve issue of deposed president’s successor led to military coup, they say

AGROUP of exiled Zimbabwean activists have blamed the ruling ZanuPF’s failure to resolve the race to succeed now deposed president Robert Mugabe for the current crisis.

The Zimbabwean Communist Party (ZCP) yesterday said the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) would not have stepped in had Zanu-PF properly handled Mugabe’s succession.

On Monday, General Constantine Chiwenga, the ZDF commander since 2004, warned that the military would not hesitate to step in following the axing of vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa last week.

Yesterday, the ZDF announced that Mugabe and his family were safe and that it was “only targeting criminals around him”.

ZCP general secretary Ngqabutho Mabhena said the military was acting in defence of the Zanu-PF faction headed by Mnangagwa ahead of next month’s special congress.

“It’s not an ideological battle, but a fight over who should loot more than the other,” he said.

Mabhena said Zimbabweans at home and abroad had mixed reactions to the ZDF’s move, with some not backing the soldiers and hoping it delivers elections that produce the country’s first new president in 37 years.

He said other Zimbabweans feared that the soldiers’ actions could close the democratic space and suspend elections.

Zimbabwe Exiles Forum’s Gabriel Shumba declined to comment, saying they did not even know what was happening and had asked friends and family to investigate.

Siphosezwe Masango, chairperson of the National Assembly’s portfolio committee on international relations and co-operation, said they had asked International Relations and Co-operation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane for a briefing on the crisis next week.

Masango said he would be making a statement at yesterday afternoon’s sitting of the National Assembly.

He echoed ANC secretarygeneral Gwede Mantashe’s statement that Zimbabwe was not South Africa’s 10th province and that the governing party was worried by developments in the neighbouring country. “We don’t want to be seen to be interfering,” he added.

Masango said he hoped the Southern African Development Community heads of state and government and SADC’s organ on politics, defence and security would provide the necessary political assistance to have meaningful and constructive engagement with Zimbabweans.

Amnesty International’s southern Africa regional director Deprose Muchena said it was essential that the military ensure the safety and security of all the people in Zimbabwe – regardless of their political allegiance – and refrain from any action that put lives and human rights at risk.

Muchena warned that the military takeover should not be used as an excuse to undermine Zimbabwe’s international and regional human rights obligations and commitments.

“The free flow of information – through the media and social media – must be guaranteed,” he emphasised.