Putin sees a Mnangagwa victory?

PRESIDENT Mnangagwa held a closed door meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the 10th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg on Friday during which the leader of the Eastern European country expressed hope that the President will convincingly win elections tomorrow.

In an interview yesterday, the head of the Europe and Americas Directorate in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Ambassador Chitsaka Chipaziwa said the meeting - the President's first with the Russian leader - was held in a friendly mood.

"President Mnangagwa congratulated President Putin for convincingly winning elections in his country earlier this year and President Putin wished our President well in the elections on Monday. He (President Putin) also expressed hope that the two leaders will continue working together well into the future," said Ambassador Chipaziwa.

President Mnangagwa was among several African heads of state and government who were invited to the BRICS Africa Outreach Dialogue that was held on the last day of the BRICS Summit at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg.

The summit ran from Wednesday to Friday and was attended by leaders of all the five BRICS member states - presidents Putin, Xi Jinping (China), Michel Temer (Brazil), Cyril Ramaphosa (South Africa) and India Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In addition to President Mnangagwa, African leaders who attended the BRICS Africa Outreach Dialogue include incoming Sadc chairperson, President Hage Geingob of Namibia, Peter Mutharika (Malawi), Joao Lourenco (Angola), Yoweri Museveni (Uganda and the chairperson of the East African Community), Paul Kagame (Rwanda and African Union chairperson), Edgar Lungu, (Zambia) and Filipe Nyusi (Mozambique). The dialogue was introduced to bolster relations between BRICS - whose members are some of the world's emerging economies - and Africa which is largely a developing region.

Speaking at the forum, President Mnangagwa said all was in place for a free, fair, transparent and credible election tomorrow.

President Putin won elections by more than 75 percent in March to secure a second term. He was among the first world leaders to congratulate President Mnangagwa after his inauguration in November last year.

In March President Putin sent his Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov with a message praising the President for bringing political stability to the country and steering it towards economic growth. Amb Chipaziwa said President Mnangagwa and his Russian counterpart are well disposed to each other and their Friday meeting was held in a friendly mood.

"It was a meeting of friends who look forward to expanding their relations. Zimbabwe expects BRICS to continue growing and for them to grow, they need us as Africa. We, as Africa also need BRICS for us to grow. We have our neighbour South Africa who is a member of BRICS but South Africa cannot strut the world stage as if they are the only country in Africa. Zimbabwe is at the centre of southern Africa. We need South Africa; we need Mozambique for our imports and exports. That is why there was this very important engagement between BRICS and Africa. "

Presidents Mnangagwa and Putin also discussed the need for multilateralism in global affairs, said Amb Chipaziwa. BRICS has, among its founding goals, the promotion of multilateralism in a world that is dominated by one power, the US.