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Joseph Madzimure and Farai Dauramanzi, Harare Bureau

PRESIDENT Mnangagwa yesterday met South Africa’s ruling party African National Congress Secretary General, Cde Fikile Mbalula, who has been in the country to witness the inauguration ceremony of the Zimbabwean leader.

Cde Mbalula has described the relationship between his party and Zanu PF as solid and unbreakable, and recently posted on his social media handle congratulating President Mnangagwa on his re-election.

Yesterday he paid a courtesy call on the President at State House in Harare before proceeding to meet Zanu PF Secretary General Dr Obert Mpofu at the party’s headquarters.

Responding to questions from the media after a closed door meeting with Dr Mpofu, Cde Mbalula said the democratic outcome of the Zimbabwe’s harmonised elections must be respected because it reflected the will of the people, adding that Zimbabweans should never be second class citizens in their motherland.

“The democratic outcome must be respected, should anyone contest the elections. Zimbabwe has got a constitution, it has its laws, it’s a sovereign country. Disputes must be settled within Zimbabwe’s democratic dispensation and we respect that,” he said.

The ANC Secretary General also admonished some observers, especially the SADC Election Observer Mission, for straying into areas that are beyond their mandate.

“We know that there are observer missions that have raised their own views about how the elections have been conducted. They are entitled to that but they must also respect the sovereignty of countries.

“You don’t impose your will on another country. You simply raise your views for the country to respond to those, observations can also be disputed by those who run the elections. Zimbabwe’s Electoral Commission ran the elections and pronounced the outcome of the elections and we respect the will of the people. That’s what is important,” he said.

Cde Mbalula said election observer mission teams are expected to subscribe to the country’s constitution.

“South Africa does not run Zimbabwe, the same as Zimbabwe will not run South Africa. We respect everybody including observer missions but at the end of that, the ANC subscribe to the sovereignty of nations; the ANC is against the regime change agenda which has been perpetuated by our political opponents in the world, who even in South Africa want ANC to be out of power through sponsoring Non-Governmental Organisations, sponsoring political parties and so on.  We are aware of these things, we know that they do happen.”

Imperialists and their regime change agenda, Cde Mbalula said, will never be welcome in the SADC region.

He said imperialists cannot impose their ideologies on the Zimbabwean people through supporting CCC presidential candidate Mr Nelson Chamisa.

“You tell us that Zimbabwean elections were this and that. In the United States of America, the so-called champions of modern democracy, its former President Donald Trump himself is not happy about how the elections were conducted. He is still challenging them saying they were not free and fair. So why should we listen to other people? Yes, they are unhappy because they became dreamers and presidents before the elections were concluded,” said Cde Mbalula.

Any aggrieved political party leader, he said, is free to resort to the country’s constitution.

“Here in Zimbabwe if a political party is not happy about the elections, they should refer to the constitution. You go to court, you do whatever that you follow, resolve your disputes there. That is what should be happening, not that an observer mission must then say in Zimbabwe, this and that must happen.

“It cannot be, it does not happen like that.  What happens is that you respect the  sovereignty of a country, raise your concerns, talk about them and then you deliver them to the country concerned and that country can respond to that. ZEC, Government and the Zimbabwean people can respond to that, in their own planning going forward they can integrate those concerns going into the future.”

Cde Mbalula added that the ANC is an anti-imperialist organisation and will stand in solidarity with nations that are under attack from erstwhile colonisers.

“We believe in strong regional integration and in that context Zimbabwe is our strong ally. We need to build this region called Southern Africa with all the challenges that we face as a region, economically,” he said.

Cde Mbalula also called for the immediate removal of sanctions on Zimbabwe saying the Southern Africa nation required strong trading partners.

“We call for the removal of sanctions, so that the Southern African nation can fully trade and realise its potential.

“There are people who want mineral resources from Zimbabwe and exploit their resources. Zimbabwe was referred to as a bread basket of Africa, we know the potential of this country and in that context it is important that those nations that have imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe must remove them immediately,” he said.

“We don’t believe in that. We believe in the independence of countries and that’s what is important for us. Look at what imperialism has done after they have exported it to Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan. Where are those countries now, they are dead because imperialists wanted oil, they manufacture stories that there are weapons of mass destruction. Where are those weapons?

“An imperialist agenda that seeks to govern, run down countries and undermine their sovereignty is what we don’t support,” he said.

Cde Mbalula challenged Zimbabweans to be patriotic and support their own processes for the country to prosper.

The ANC Secretary General was accompanied by his deputy Cde Nomvula Mokonyane, Cdes Nandipha Zonela and Andisiwe Boya.

Speaking at the same occasion Dr Mpofu said the meeting was meant to share notes as former liberation movements in the region.