ANC delegation expected today

THE African National Congress (ANC) delegation led by secretary-general Ace Magashule is expected in the country today for bilateral engagements with their Zanu PF counterparts.

This comes as the two parties are strengthening cooperation in the wake of a renewed onslaught against former liberation movements by Western powers, who are working with opposition parties in the region, some churches and a select media to manufacture a non-existent crisis in Zimbabwe.

Zanu PF Secretary for Administration Dr Obert Mpofu yesterday said the two parties will exchange notes on economic and political cooperation.

"I can confirm that all is set for the Zanu PF-ANC talks. We have been briefed that our revolutionary counterpart the ANC is sending its top brass ahead of the indaba scheduled for this Wednesday. "Considering that this whole crisis narrative constitutes a peripheral concern, we are certain that obvious rationality will shift our discussion focus to other more important issues," he said.

The more pressing details that the two parties are likely to spend time deliberating on are centred on the political threats posed by the two countries' detractors as well as economic cooperation.

"As political parties unified by the permanent effects of colonial infiltration, in our respective national interests, we ought to emerge from this dialogue more ideologically clear to create firm buffers against existential shocks exerted on us by forces working in the interest of fragmenting African liberation movements.

"An obviously foreseen resolution will be our heightened inter-party solidarities aimed at building a strong foundation for African solutions for African problems in the region.

"However, in this instance we have no problem to tackle at length considering that the crisis alarm is not founded on what is prevailing on the ground," he said. The dialogue, Mpofu said, comes at an opportune time considering the favourable policy environment recently enabled by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) pact.

"As ZANU PF, this dialogue is beyond politics, this dialogue is set to strengthen our bilateral ties in making the SADC an optimal hub for extensive investment opportunities. We have more to fight for on the economic solidarity front than anything else. So our agenda will be predicated on real issues and nothing else," he said.

Dr Mpofu added: "In essence this is an opportunity for our liberation sisterhood as ZANU PF and the ANC to be concretised in the service of a plethora of genuine concerns affecting both ZANU PF and the ANC." South African Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mphakama Mbete also confirmed the arrival of the ANC delegation.

"I can confirm that the ANC nine-member delegation will arrive in Zimbabwe today, but I don't have the exact time," he said.

War veterans' chairman Christopher Mutsvangwa weighed in saying their association is behind the dialogue between the two sister revolutionary parties.

"The two revolutionary parties were born out of the protracted liberation struggle. We shared the same trenches during the liberation struggle.

"We share the same blood, so the opposition and some other rogue elements should not draw boundaries between the two sister parties," said Mutsvangwa.