Online Reporter
Wallace Ruzvidzo-Herald Reporter
There is no congruence between the Zimbabwean and South African land questions, hence opposition members should stop trying to stir up bad blood between Harare and Washington, Zanu PF spokesperson Ambassador Christopher Mutsvangwa has said.
Speaking at a press conference held at the ruling party’s headquarters yesterday, Ambassador Mutsvangwa said the opposition was trying to be “peevish”.
Their push for regime change in Zimbabwe through trying to draw parallels between what is happening in neighbouring South Africa and Zimbabwe, would never come to fruition, he said.
“The South African land question has been treated as an internal matter between South Africans.
“We have a different land problem.
“Ours was a colonial land, colonial imperial land problem. There is a colonising power which gave a charter to a private company called BSA (British South Africa) Company to come to Zimbabwe and start possessing land…so even when we fought, we knew that the legitimacy of this country was impinged upon by Britain, and towards the end of that, when we achieved an armistice, we had to go to London…so the land question in Zimbabwe has got a colonial imperial nature which resides in London.
“It is not like the South African issue, which is an internal South African affair, because Afrikaners are Africans, and we consider them as Africans, and they also want to be considered as Africans,” he said.
Ambassador Mutsvangwa said it had become the opposition’s modus operandi to look to stir up friction between Zimbabwe and the US in an effort to see the country’s sanctions renewed.
“..so this is the nuance which is different from the land question in South Africa.
“The reason we are saying so is that each time there is some… (issue) in Washington about Africa, and the president of America is facing the prospect of having to renew the executive sanctions against Zimbabwe about this time of the year, a lot of excitement starts emanating from opposition circles in Zimbabwe,” he said.
Cde Mutsvangwa singled out opposition figure Mr Tendai Biti.
“He (Mr Biti) is now starting to make comments about title deeds, about Zimbabwe, and yesterday we know for certain that they convened a meeting in South Africa, at the US Embassy in South Africa, all in an effort at trying to whip up emotions about title deeds and the land in Zimbabwe, so that somehow…when he (Trump) singled out and called out South Africa, it can be corrected so that Zimbabwe somehow must be found in the presence of America.
“They just want Zimbabwe on the yoke, they just want Zimbabwe to become the attention of the American president, gratuitously and unnecessarily,” he said.
The Zanu PF spokesperson went on: “Why? Because they believe that if America can do something about Zimbabwe, it can speed up the prospect of them getting to power, sneaking through the back door of foreign support, rather than through the front door of electoral politics in Zimbabwe…Mr Biti, you should stop trying to be peevish.”
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa recently signed the Land Expropriation Act into law as Pretoria moves to address its land issue.
