ANC chooses right side of history
Brian Rungano Temba
One of Africa`s oldest revolutionary parties, the African National Congress has told the West to respect Zimbabwe`s sovereignity and called on them to stop trying to force regime change.
Immediately after being elected Secretary General of the ANC, Cde Fikile Mbalula said illegal sanctions should be removed and Zimbabwe should be allowed to self-determine.
Addressing the media during the just ended 55th Congress of the party, Cde Mbalula said the British are being shameful in their approach to the Zimbabwean issue.
He said the West must honour key principles of the Lancaster House Agreement and stop weaponising the Land Reform Programme as grounds to pin illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe.
“The British know what they agreed to in Lancester, they must come to the Ruling Party in Zimbabwe ; ZANU-PF and invest in the compensation of Zimbabweans in the Land Redistribution Programme.
The £40 billion promised to the late former President Cde Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF must come to Zimbabwe instead of using the same Land Reform as an escape goat. Both the British and Americans must reconsider their actions against Zimbabwe. They must lift their sanctions so that the country’s economy can grow Instead of deepening the pain and poverty of Zimbabwe,” said Cde Mbalula.
Cde Mbalula bemoaned the fall of Zimbabwe’s economy due to illegal sanctions which has caused instability in the region and South Africa in particular through immigration.
“Before sanctions, Zimbabweans didn’t come to South Africa. Zimbabwe was a bread basket of the continent with a lively economy.
Now we have immigrants coming in from Zimbabwe willing to face death and crocodiles all for a chance of greener pastures in South Africa. We need to campaign very hard to get things right. Once Zimbabwe returns to its former glory we won’t have pressure over jobs and resources with immigrants anymore,” he added.
Cde Mbalula rejected the idea of Regime Change being the antidote to the economic strain on Zimbabwe.
“As the ANC we have built political relations with our sister parties and we must be very concerned with what’s happening in Zimbabwe.
We need to play define the role we must play to solve the problem in Zimbabwe because we do not subscribe to the idea of Regime Change in Zimbabwe. The ANC will not agree on ideological terms with turning Zimbabwe into a client state next door to South Africa. We need to campaign for the self determination of the people of the Western Sahara and Cuba as well,” added Cde Mbalula.
The Congress ended with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa re-elected as chairman of the ANC.
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