Brian Sithole
A senior South African ruling party official has raised a red flag over a perceived alliance between Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) leader Nelson Chamisa and Zambian leader Hakainde Hichilema working with some elements to discredit the just concluded Zimbabwean polls.
This also comes as the Namibian Election Observer Mission accused some fellow observers within the region of working towards a deliberate agenda to destroy liberation movements across the continent hence a vicious attack on the credibility of the just concluded elections.
Zimbabwe has been subjected to attacks by observer missions who questioned the credibility of last week’s elections that saw President Emmerson Mnangagwa emerging victorious with a 52.6% margin ahead of his nearest rival Nelson Chamisa who garnered 44%.
The opposition leader has rejected the poll outcome and pleaded with regional and international intervention to push for new elections without the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) a proposal Zanu PF only scoffed at.
ANC Secretary General Fikile Mbalula has been on a warpath attacking the opposition in Zimbabwe, the Dr Nevers Mumba-led SADC observer mission and former Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane for working together with a “grand plan” to discredit the polls.
Ironically, Hichilema, Chamisa and Maimane are close friends with the Zambian leader now under fire for allegedly sending Mumba on a mission to discredit the polls to force a fresh election.
“Grand plan went sour assisted by wannabes like Chris, one fellow dismissed at SABC,” wrote Mbalula on microblogging site X.
Mbalula has been consistent in calling for non-interference on Zimbabwean issues by the West and now regional bodies he suspects are pushing an agenda.
“I support democracy,” he said. “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 the Zimbabwe economy can flourish and Zimbabweans go and work in their country,” he said in a separate post.
Addressing journalists in Harare, head of the Namibian observer mission, Ndali Che Kamati said similar attempts of dislodging revolutionary parties are happening in his home country as well as in South Africa adding that the strategy will not work.
“We are former liberation movements (that is) Zanu PF, SWAPO, ANC, FRELIMO and so on and some other countries in the West especially Europe want to unseat liberation movements and that is why you will hear these pronouncements like the ones we had now here,” he said in apparent reference to Mumba’s statement that has been condemned by Zanu PF and the ANC.
“There is an agenda and this agenda is for all our countries. So we don’t rule out that in Namibia, they are trying the same, in South Africa, they are trying the same. So we keep on inviting them because we are not hiding anything. We are transparent, we are free and we want fair elections but we do not appreciate such kind of pronouncements. It’s an attack, a direct attack on our liberation movements and our governments and our systems.”
