By Liz Dlodlo
The African National Congress (ANC) has pledged its commitment to continue assisting Zimbabweans to resolve their political and economic challenges.
The party’s Secretary General, Ace Magashule who led a delegation to Zimbabwe for an engagement with Zanu PF last week, said in a media brief Tuesday that they welcomed Zanu PF position on the need for constructive dialogue.
He said the delegation had since briefed the ANC’s national officials on their Zimbabwe trip.
“Our delegation led by the Secretary-General Cde Ace Magashule came back from a successful mission of bilateral engagement with Zanu PF,” he said.
Magashule said they concurred with Zanu PF’s Secretary of Administration, Dr Obert Mpofu that the recent engagement between the two political parties were both frank and constructive, conducted in the fraternal spirit of two liberation movements.
“As such, we remain committed to extending the space for political dialogue with a view of advancing the social, political, and economic interests of the people of Zimbabwe and South Africa.
This is done in the context of advancing African unity, and the continuing fight for political and economic emancipation,” he said.
Magashule said the ANC was happy with the constructive approach by ZANU PF with regards to the meeting with other stakeholders, opposition parties, and civil society organizations in Zimbabwe.
The Secretary-General said the delegation will soon return to Harare for more engagements with opposition political parties and other stakeholders.
“In addition, we are happy with the joint commitment between the two parties to upholding human rights, in the context of what they fought for during the struggle against apartheid and colonialism,” said Magashule.
“The joint engagement on, and commitment to the advancement and protection of human rights remained paramount in the context of acknowledging and upholding respective countries as sovereign.
“We do so while respecting freedom of association, freedom of speech, and all the basic universal freedoms”.
He said the positive results of the two parties’ consultation will go a long way in ensuring regional stability and growth in the two countries.
The political stalwart said the success and prosperity of Zimbabwe was good for South Africa, the SADC region and the African continent.
He said they were looking forward to yielding positive results from the ongoing consultations, which will in turn go a long way in ensuring regional stability and growth in the two countries.
“In our quest to achieve this mission, we travelled in an unusual manner and profusely humble ourselves where we went wrong during the lockdown and will reimburse the Government for the costs incurred on behalf of our delegation.
Our delegation is under quarantine in line with our lockdown regulations,” said Magashule.
