ANC's Mbalula lashed at for cheering Mnangagwa victory

WESTERN countries should lift illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe and stop interfering in the country's democratic processes as that defeats the free expression of Zimbabweans who overwhelmingly voted for the ruling party Zanu-PF in the recently concluded elections, the South African ruling party, African National Congress (ANC) said.

This comes after some observer missions authored and scandalously submitted preliminary reports based on the opposition input.

Fikile Mbalula, the secretary general of the ANC, made it clear yesterday that his party had dispatched it's own observer mission to Zimbabwe, which will report on the elections, instead of relying on third parties.

"The ANC position discredits reports which contained glaringly broad, subjective claims and conclusions that were all based on indirect observation of the election.

"We did send an observer mission as the ANC to Zimbabwe, this week they will give us a report and we make our position clear with regard to the outcome of the Zim elections," Mbalula posted on his official Twitter handle.

"I support democracy, we need to support  the democratic outcome and stop meddling in Zimbabwe's affairs by way of seeking to subvert democratic outcomes, lift sanctions so that Zimbabwe's economy can flourish and Zimbabweans go and work in their country."

He further encouraged  the outside world to let Zimbabweans settle their own disputes through their constitutional mechanisms.

"I have not pronounced on Zimbabwe elections outcome. After the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission pronounced President Emmerson (Mnangagwa) I said ‘Viva' that's all," said Mbalula as he dismissed people who accused him and his party of bias.

"Zanu-PF is supported by Zimbabweans that is a fact, they pulled big rallies in that country."

Meanwhile, Edgar Legoale, a South African Youth Council member and member of the NEC, echoed the same statements saying that throughout the election period, the media in Southern Africa and elsewhere appeared to have a prejudicial agenda against Zanu-PF and President Mnangangwa.

"Instead of presenting a fair and balanced coverage of their campaign, they consistently favoured Nelson Chamisa and his party.

"They consistently refrained from publishing anything positive about the Zanu-PF campaign right from the beginning, instead promoting Chamisa as the preferred candidate."

Moreover, Legoale accused the media of portraying  Chamisa as the inevitable winner and even portrayed him as "some Jesus", despite knowing that he does not have majority support among the people of Zimbabwe.

"They (a section of the media) even went to the extent of hiring so called analysts and Twitter influencers in an attempt to persuade the public that the election was rigged. The people have spoken, and some must make peace," he said.