Opinion / Interviews
Zanu-PF delighted to host the Sadc Summit
17 Aug 2024 at 12:42hrs | Views
IN the midst of growing concerns on-going human rights violations, including arrests, torture and allegations of violence in Zimbabwe, the Zanu-PF government is hosting the Sadc summit.
This event comes under intense scrutiny, with accusations that Zanu-PF is the main perpetrator of these abuses.
NewsDay Weekender reporter Sharon Buwerimwe (ND) caught up with Zanu-PF director for information and publicity Farai Marapira (FM), who provided an insight into what hosting this summit meant for both the party and the nation, addressing the controversy surrounding Zimbabwe's eligibility to host such an event.
Below are excerpts from the interview:
ND: What does hosting the Sadc summit for the first time mean for Zanu-PF as a party and for Zimbabwe as a nation?
FM: Hosting the Sadc summit is an honour, an opportunity for Zimbabwe to showcase to its sister countries what it is about. It is an opportunity for us to show who we are as a country and people.
ND: There were calls by other political parties and civic society organisations saying Zimbabwe should not host the summit due to cases of arrests, torture and violence, claiming that Zanu-PF is behind all this abuse. What would be your comment?
FM: It is the usual modus operandi of the opposition that whenever there is an international event, they make noise.
They make unsubstantiated claims of torture and violence.
It is nincompoopery for anyone to believe that they should not be arrested because we have an international event.
We cannot suspend the law because some people within us have malicious intentions which cannot be attained if the law is in effect to the letter.
We commend the police for the sterling work they are doing and encourage them to keep it up. As Zanu-PF, we have nothing to hide and our first secretary and President has said it time again that our doors are open for dialogue.
A sincere opposition would have seized these overtures and come to the table if indeed they had the interests of the nation at heart.
ND: In what ways do you believe hosting the summit will enhance Zimbabwe's role in Sadc and the broader African Union?
FM: Hosting of the summit and more importantly taking over of the chairmanship allows us to have a greater voice in influencing the trajectory of the region and Africa in our President's and party's pan-Africanist goals.
As a party, we have always believed in regional growth, where the whole of Sadc rises together and this is an opportunity to ensure this common goal is achieved.
ND: What outcomes does Zanu-PF hope to achieve from hosting the summit, both politically and economically?
FM: There can be no economic growth in the absence of stability. To digress, this explains the opposition's activities.
Their goal is an unsettled country which retains a pariah status so that there can be no economic growth.
As an opposition that has never matured to politics of responsibility, toxicity is their only political oxygen.
So one of the greater goals will be ensuring as a region that there is stability, so we can grow economically as a region.
It does not serve us to be disjointed or to have one of ours lagging behind. We shall pull through as a bloc which realises the greater connection we have, which supercedes colonial era boundaries which we refuse to be defining us today.
ND: What legacy do you hope this summit will leave for both Zimbabwe and Zanu-PF?
FM: This is an opportunity for the President to push the industrialisation agenda within the region, harnessing our individual strengths as countries to become regional strengths.
We shall see this being a period of more interconnectivity and interdependence as we become stronger.
Economically and politically, we strive to see the region becoming a "clenched fist", which is stronger than individual fingers.
This hosting of the Sadc summit shall be an event remembered into posterity as one of the highlights of the second dispensation.
All attempts to make this a controversial summit are falling flat. The people of Zimbabwe are proud of who they are. We are all eager to show off our culture and wonderful personalities.
Toxicity has no role in our country and we shall make this an event to be proud of.
This event comes under intense scrutiny, with accusations that Zanu-PF is the main perpetrator of these abuses.
NewsDay Weekender reporter Sharon Buwerimwe (ND) caught up with Zanu-PF director for information and publicity Farai Marapira (FM), who provided an insight into what hosting this summit meant for both the party and the nation, addressing the controversy surrounding Zimbabwe's eligibility to host such an event.
Below are excerpts from the interview:
ND: What does hosting the Sadc summit for the first time mean for Zanu-PF as a party and for Zimbabwe as a nation?
FM: Hosting the Sadc summit is an honour, an opportunity for Zimbabwe to showcase to its sister countries what it is about. It is an opportunity for us to show who we are as a country and people.
ND: There were calls by other political parties and civic society organisations saying Zimbabwe should not host the summit due to cases of arrests, torture and violence, claiming that Zanu-PF is behind all this abuse. What would be your comment?
FM: It is the usual modus operandi of the opposition that whenever there is an international event, they make noise.
They make unsubstantiated claims of torture and violence.
It is nincompoopery for anyone to believe that they should not be arrested because we have an international event.
We cannot suspend the law because some people within us have malicious intentions which cannot be attained if the law is in effect to the letter.
We commend the police for the sterling work they are doing and encourage them to keep it up. As Zanu-PF, we have nothing to hide and our first secretary and President has said it time again that our doors are open for dialogue.
A sincere opposition would have seized these overtures and come to the table if indeed they had the interests of the nation at heart.
ND: In what ways do you believe hosting the summit will enhance Zimbabwe's role in Sadc and the broader African Union?
FM: Hosting of the summit and more importantly taking over of the chairmanship allows us to have a greater voice in influencing the trajectory of the region and Africa in our President's and party's pan-Africanist goals.
As a party, we have always believed in regional growth, where the whole of Sadc rises together and this is an opportunity to ensure this common goal is achieved.
ND: What outcomes does Zanu-PF hope to achieve from hosting the summit, both politically and economically?
FM: There can be no economic growth in the absence of stability. To digress, this explains the opposition's activities.
Their goal is an unsettled country which retains a pariah status so that there can be no economic growth.
As an opposition that has never matured to politics of responsibility, toxicity is their only political oxygen.
So one of the greater goals will be ensuring as a region that there is stability, so we can grow economically as a region.
It does not serve us to be disjointed or to have one of ours lagging behind. We shall pull through as a bloc which realises the greater connection we have, which supercedes colonial era boundaries which we refuse to be defining us today.
ND: What legacy do you hope this summit will leave for both Zimbabwe and Zanu-PF?
FM: This is an opportunity for the President to push the industrialisation agenda within the region, harnessing our individual strengths as countries to become regional strengths.
We shall see this being a period of more interconnectivity and interdependence as we become stronger.
Economically and politically, we strive to see the region becoming a "clenched fist", which is stronger than individual fingers.
This hosting of the Sadc summit shall be an event remembered into posterity as one of the highlights of the second dispensation.
All attempts to make this a controversial summit are falling flat. The people of Zimbabwe are proud of who they are. We are all eager to show off our culture and wonderful personalities.
Toxicity has no role in our country and we shall make this an event to be proud of.
Source - newsday
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