End the chaos, Mr President

THE crisis in Zimbabwe cannot be hidden anymore.

Hardly a day after South African President Cyril Ramaphosa dispatched special envoys to Harare to engage President Emmerson Mnangagwa on the crisis, the African National Congress (ANC) has added its voice, confirming that there is, indeed, a crisis in its neighbour.

Ramaphosa’s special envoys, Baleka Mbete, Advocate Ngoako Ramatlhodi and Sydney Mufamadi, held private discussions with Mnangagwa on the state of affairs in Zimbabwe and though they are yet to brief their boss, the ANC international relations committee chairperson Lindiwe Zulu spoke emphatically on the situation.

In her own words, Zulu said there was a crisis in Zimbabwe and time has come to be frank about it.

Indeed, Madam Zulu, time has come to be frank, not to keep on lying about the state of affairs in this country.

Zimbabwe is burning and we now must be honest with each other.

South Africa has taken the lead with the ANC, opposition parties Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters, Mmusi Maimane’s Movement for One South Africa and United Democratic Movement, among several others, voicing their concern over how Harare is being run.

The United Nations is also looking into the Zimbabwean crisis, as are several other international institutions.

The long and short of it is that all eyes are on Mnangagwa, sadly for wrong reasons and he has nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.

This is now beyond spin doctors and Harare cannot spin its way out of this global scrutiny.

Shaping up is the only option for Mnangagwa to ensure a halt to all human rights abuses, targeting journalists and activists and harassing them for no apparent reason.

Government has denied that Zimbabwe is in crisis, going a step further claiming that pictures of victims of abduction and torture in the country were doctored to push a certain agenda.

Mnangagwa has kept his head buried in the sand as if everything is fine and wanting his neighbours to believe he remains “as soft as wool”.

The cry for help by Zimbabweans has become too loud to ignore.

The only available option for Mnangagwa is to end the chaos and allow the people of Zimbabwe to breathe.

The time to act is now and it is time for Mnangagwa to act. The looting of public funds continues unabated and the people are not allowed to protest and express their disappointment over how government seems to have institutionalised looting.

If all this does not constitute a crisis, then nothing does. Zimbabwe is indeed in a crisis, a man-made crisis manifesting in so many different ways.

It has to end.