Veteran Zimbabwe political analyst Ibbo Mandaza has welcomed the ANC’s meeting with Zanu-PF, saying: “There is now engagement by the ANC with Zanu-PF about the crisis, notwithstanding Zanu-PF’s denial that there is a crisis in Zimbabwe”. 

Mandaza, also a member of the Platform of Concerned Citizens (PCC) which is calling for a transitional authority to lead Zimbabwe out of its crisis, also welcomed the fact that the ANC had persuaded Zanu-PF that it would meet other parties and stakeholders – despite Zanu-PF’s prior insistence that the ANC should meet only Zimbabwe’s ruling party.

“From all indications the engagement was robust,” Mandaza told Daily Maverick, adding that he had heard Zulu had been particularly firm with Zanu-PF in the meeting.

Piers Pigou, Zimbabwe expert at the International Crisis Group, said he thought there had been an element of wishful thinking in Mandaza’s interpretation, but added that it did seem the necessary conversation between the ANC and Zanu-PF had begun and that Zanu-PF had had to accept the ANC was going to meet other stakeholders – which was a first for the former liberation movement.

The two governing parties met for eight hours in Harare on Wednesday, but the ANC then returned to SA without meeting the opposition MDC-Alliance, or any other political parties or civil society organisations as President Cyril Ramaphosa had said they should.

This has attracted criticism, particularly because early in August Ramaphosa sent three special envoys to Zimbabwe – former cabinet ministers Sydney Mufamadi and Ngoako Ramatlhodi, and former deputy president and speaker of Parliament Baleka Mbete – to meet President Emmerson Mnangagwa as well as the political opposition and civil society. But Mnangagwa would not let them meet anyone else. Officials tell Daily Maverick that the special envoys are still determined to return to meet the others. 

On Wednesday, ANC Secretary-General Ace Magashule explained that the ANC had not met other actors as they had run out of time after a long meeting with Zanu-PF. He said Zanu-PF had agreed that the ANC would return to meet other stakeholders. He mentioned the main MDC-Alliance opposition party (led by Nelson Chamisa), Zapu, former cabinet minister and presidential candidate Simba Makoni, the US ambassador to Zimbabwe Brian Nichols and a coalition of human rights NGOs as others who had requested meetings.

Social development minister Lindiwe Zulu, who also heads the ANC NEC’s international relations subcommittee, said others had written to the SA embassy in Harare requesting meetings and that the ANC was open to meeting them all. The only one she expressed reservations about was the US ambassador to Zimbabwe as she said diplomatic protocol dictated that the ANC should rather meet the US ambassador in Pretoria, Lana Marks.

“Also if we meet the US ambassador in Zimbabwe, we would have to meet all the ambassadors there,” she said. 

She was clearly annoyed about media reports that the delegation had returned from Zimbabwe “empty handed”.

“Does it mean that because we didn’t meet the opposition, we returned empty handed?” she asked. Zulu said that the meeting with Zanu-PF had lasted all day. The delegation did not want to then have hasty meetings with other stakeholders just to show they had met them and so had decided to meet them later when they would have enough time for thorough discussions. The ANC would arrange those meetings itself, she said. 

Zulu added that another reason the delegation had not returned empty handed was that she and Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula had met their Zimbabwe cabinet counterparts to discuss inter-government matters in their fields. 

Though the ANC and Zanu-PF meet quite often as fellow “former liberation movements”, Zulu said Wednesday’s meeting had been the first of its kind between them because instead of speaking to each other “nicely” as they normally did as fraternal liberation movements, they had spoken “very simply, frankly and honestly, being brutal with each other about what needs to be done” – and in particular whether they were really serving the needs of their people. 

The ANC had put all its concerns on the table, including issues about human rights abuses, democracy, violence, people going hungry and the migration of Zimbabweans into South Africa.

“The concerns being expressed in South Africa about Zimbabweans taking local jobs is an issue of national interest, not just party interest,” Zulu said. “If we don’t deal with it, we will end up with foreign nationals being attacked and spaza shops burnt,” she said. 

Zulu noted that the 10-point action plan which the ANC and Zanu-PF had agreed to also included a commitment for both sides to tackle corruption, a major problem in both governing parties. 

Discussions on what South Africa could do to address the Zimbabwe crisis generally focus on the need for a political dialogue among Zanu-PF and the political opposition. Mandaza said he did not know whether the two parties had discussed anything like the PCC’s proposal for a multiparty transitional authority. Zulu said the need for an inclusive political dialogue to lead Zimbabwe out of the crisis had not been discussed, but only because the ANC had not yet met the political opposition.

“We can’t decide on political solutions until we have met the others. The way forward depends upon meeting the others too.” 

Publicly Zulu – who as a diplomat led South Africa’s intervention to try to ensure free and fair elections in Zimbabwe in 2013 – has also been the most outspoken member of the government and ANC about Zimbabwe. In August she said that South Africa would be unable to help Zimbabwe deal with its crisis unless it first acknowledged it was in crisis.

But the two sides diplomatically skirted around that issue on Wednesday, at least publicly.

Asked about this at the press conference after the meeting, Magashule said: “Maybe we use the word ‘crisis’ but I think we agreed there are challenges facing the entire globe, the continent and our respective countries. And therefore when there are challenges in South Africa and Zimbabwe, as liberation movements, such challenges must be addressed for as long as they affect our people. And that’s why we are here.”

Zanu-PF Secretary for Administration Obert Mpofu later said, however, that “we tried to avoid using the word ‘crisis’ because there’s no crisis in Zimbabwe. That’s why my colleague here (referring to Magashule) preferred to use the word ‘challenges’ not only in Zimbabwe, but also in South Africa. The discussion revolved around the challenges affecting the two countries and the two parties.”

Zulu said the two parties would hold follow-up meetings to pursue their agreements, with a particular focus on economic issues, which would be led on the SA side by Enoch Godongwana, the head of the ANC NEC’s economic affairs committee who was part of the ANC delegation. 

“Talking to some members of the delegation, it is clear that Zanu-PF accepts the die is cast,” Mandaza said. He said analysts like him had been advising South Africa that it had a greater opportunity now than ever before to make a difference in Zimbabwe.

“Because unlike Robert Mugabe who was a tough cookie and who had some measure of legitimacy in 2008 and 2009 (when then president Thabo Mbeki had intervened) and had a bit of clout with South Africa, Emmerson is very weak, even within his party, vis a vis the military he’s very weak. He’s a pushover in my view and the Zimbabwe state has never been so vulnerable as it is now. 

“Taking all that into account, I think South Africa can easily push these guys to the talks. I’m not sure there is a consensus about what we’re pushing for, a transitional authority but I’m sure some kind of accommodation with the opposition and civil groups is possible. And there is also enormous pressure internationally.” On that point, Mandaza was intrigued that US ambassador Nichols had sought a meeting with the ANC delegation. 

Pigou said he thought that to some extent Mandaza was “putting lipstick on a pig”. The ANC had been publicly weak and spineless in the face of Zanu-PF.

“Obviously we don’t know what happened in the actual discussions. But there is an element of wishful thinking, absolutely. 

“But yes, the conversation has begun and yes, Zanu-PF had to acknowledge that the ANC is going to meet with other stakeholders, albeit on a second visit. Making it exclusive to Zanu-PF yesterday was a kind of sop to them in many ways. But for a liberation movement to now start talking to other stakeholders, that’s a first. This is important. Zanu couldn’t stop that and had to acknowledge it. So in some respects, I think there is potential for progress. 

“The fact that the ANC are still spouting about sanctions may also be part of their crude attempt to cosy up to Zanu on that issue — which they have been relatively consistent on although as we know it’s not grounded in any kind of empirical reality. But maybe that gives them an opening to go back to a discussion on sanctions to see how best one can move forward on it. But simply bleating about how they should be lifted because they do so much damage doesn’t do much for their credibility.”

Whether the meeting was really as robust as Zulu claims and Mandaza has heard, publicly the two parties were their usual comradely selves. 

Their joint communiqué, read by Zanu-PF Secretary for Administration Obert Mpofu, said the “revolutionary parties” resolved “to have vigilance over fake news and social media agenda-setting for the two parties”.

At the press conference afterwards Magashule expressed concern over the manner in which social media was being used to set the agenda on the continent and called upon the two countries to take control of their destinies by way of controlling natural resources.

“The economic discussion is very important and that is what we are going to carry forward because as long as we don’t have the economy in our hands, as the people of SADC and the people of South Africa, we will continue having problems. 

“Our minerals must not be exploited by outsiders, but by our people, empowerment of the young people, empowerment of our women, empowerment of the marginalised Zimbabweans and South Africans will be key for us. We shouldn’t allow social media to set the pace and agenda for us in terms of resolving the challenges we may be facing,” said Magashule.

In the joint communiqué, the two sides agreed, as expected, that “economic sanctions and embargoes are one of the biggest albatrosses on the people of Zimbabwe and the economy and should unconditionally be removed”.

Mpofu described the meeting as frank and exhaustive as it tackled issues affecting the region as well as how to counter attempts by the country’s detractors to sow seeds of despondence in the region, starting with Zimbabwe.

“We discussed issues of fugitives who seem to be responsible for the misinformation that is being peddled out there,” he said in an apparent reference to dissident Zanu-PF leaders, still loyal to the late Robert Mugabe, who have been sharply critical of the Mnangagwa administration, mostly from bases in South Africa. 

From Zanu-PF, the meeting was attended by Politburo and Central Committee members Mpofu, Patrick Chinamasa, Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, July Moyo, Sibusiso Moyo and Ziyambi Ziyambi.

On the ANC side, the other participants were NEC members Nomvula Mokonyane, Tony Yengeni and Dakota Lekgoete. Minerals and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe was mentioned as a participant in the ANC announcement before the meeting, but apparently did not attend. 

According to Zimbabwe media, SA Defence Minister Mapisa-Nqakula and her Zimbabwean counterpart Opah Muchinguri-Kashiri discussed the Islamist insurgency in northern Mozambique and ways to deal with “the porous border between South Africa and Zimbabwe, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic” in their separate meeting. 

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has meanwhile called on Ramaphosa, as Commander-in-Chief of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), to clarify why an ANC-led delegation was able to fly to Zimbabwe to meet Zanu-PF party officials using a South African Air Force Falcon 900 jet. 

“The delegation led by ANC Secretary-General, Ace Magashule, who holds no official government position, met with officials from Zanu-PF. This was not a meeting between the officials of the South African and Zimbabwean governments, but a meeting between the two political parties,” said DA MP and defence spokesperson Kobus Marais. 

It was a “flagrant abuse of the state machinery” that the South African taxpayer had to sponsor this meeting between the two parties and called on the ANC to repay the SANDF for the cost of the flight. 

“Given the enormous budget constraints on the SANDF, this theft of scarce resources compromises the integrity and safety of South Africa.

“President Ramaphosa incessantly meanders on and on about corruption and maladministration, yet he continues to turn a blind eye at his own party’s complete disregard for the rule of law and the separation of powers.

“We must draw a line in the sand when it comes to the ANC’s relentless gross abuse of government resources. The State cannot continue to be milked dry in pursuit of the ANC’s political ends.” DM