'Zimbabwe crisis impacts SA,' says Mugabe's 'street woman'

African National Congress (ANC) national executive committee member and Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu said the Zimbabwean crisis was a case of national importance - which warranted party members to travel using state resources.

Zulu was part of an ANC delegation, led by Secretary-General Ace Magashule, sent to the neighbouring country by the party this week.

The visit was for the ANC to meet with their Zimbabwean counterpart, the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF), on human rights violations in the country.

Zimbabweans have been subjected to the harshest treatment and arrests for speaking out against corruption and the economic crisis in the country.

The ANC said members merely took a lift with Defence Minister Nosiziwe Mapisa-Ngqakula who was on her way to the country.

They were not the first envoys to be sent to Zimbabwe by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Last month, a government envoy was deployed there to address the unrest in the country, but that visit did not yield results.

Now, Ramaphosa in his capacity as ANC President sent the party leadership to talk to the Zanu-PF and other opposition parties.

But why would the party use state resources to carry out party duties?

Chairperson of the ANC's international relations sub committee, Zulu said the current situation warranted this move.

"We've got issues of national importance here. This is one thing that needs to be understood and be understood very clearly. When there is a problem that has a negative impact on us as a nation. What is happening is not an impact on the ANC, it's an impact on our people and our economy."

The South African National Defence Force is yet to comment on the matter.