Mnangagwa needs international support – Pande

By OSCAR MALIPENGA ZIMBABWEANS and the international community need to support President Emmerson Mnangagwa to transform Zimbabwe’s economic misfortune, says Zambia’s former minister of Foreign Affairs Kabinga Pande.

And Mr Pande said the trend of vilifying former Heads of State in Africa should end.

In a statement issued to the Daily Nation, Mr Pande commended President Mnangagwa for promising to take care of President Robert Mugabe.

Mr Pande, who is former Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) Kasempa Member of Parliament, said President Mugabe was the Zimbabwean hero of their independence and deserved to be taken care of.

“I want to appeal to the international community to come to the aid of Zimbabwe as much as possible if it is to get back its pre1990 days because things started going bad from 1990 onwards.

“After their independence in 1980 to 1990 things where okay but from 1990 that is when things started changing so the international community should give chance to Emmerson Mnangagwa and give him support as much as possible and knowing Zimbabwean’s work culture their attitude towards work is able to turn around their country,” Mr Pande said. Mr Pande, who congratulated President Mnangagwa, recalled that he (Mnangagwa) was somebody he interacted with so much during his tour of duty at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for close to five years.

“I expect that President Mugabe will be looked after as a statesman of that country of course he had is best and worst but we should not only look at the worst part of administration but also look at the best part of it,” Mr Pande said.

He said President Mugabe could not have had the worst of his administration throughout his 37-year rule. Mr Pande recalled that during United Nation general meetings, President Mugabe was one person whose speech could be waited for everyone to listen.

“I am one of those people who at one time spoke so much against him in 2008 when then people of Zambia through Rupiah Banda asked me to represent Zambia at the Heads of State level when Zambia was handing over the SADC chairmanship to South Africa. “So I represented the people of Zambia through RB who asked me to do so and I spoke so much against him (Mugabe) during the meeting and after I spoke when break for lunch came, Mr Mugabe came straight to me, held my hand and at lunch hour we sat the two of us on a desk having lunch together without referring to what I said but I just said your excellency what I said I am following your footsteps you are very honest and I was being honest, he just brushed it off,” Mr Pande recalled.

Meanwhile, he has cautioned the world especially Zimbabweans that they should not be expectant too soon but must give President Mnangagwa and his administration time to get expected results in terms of economy and unity.