South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), plans to hold discussions with ZANU PF and other former liberation movements in Africa soon. The main topic on the agenda will be the significant number of Zimbabweans living in South Africa.
This discussion was prompted by a tragic fire that engulfed a building in Johannesburg on the early morning of August 31, 2023. As of now, 76 people have lost their lives in this devastating incident, with the majority of victims being foreign nationals.
Obed Bapela, the Deputy Chairperson of the ANC International Relations Sub-committee, emphasized that while Zimbabwe faces sanctions, other factors have aggravated the country’s economic crisis. He expressed concern about the substantial emigration of Zimbabwean citizens to South Africa, stressing that this issue should be of concern to the Zimbabwean government.
“So the conversation we are having and as the Secretary General of the ANC Fikile Mbalula once said partic;ularly with Zimbabwe is that there are so many of their citizens in South Africa and sympathy to them because the sanctions that have been imposed on them had also contributed to their economic crisis but there are other issues that a country ought to take stock on.
Once you see all your citizens all leaving and coming, going into another country in big numbers as is the case you ought to worry as leadership of that country as to why are my people deserting and all leaving. Besides the sanctions, the economic crisis, we also are now the recipients of these people who are all over as Secretary General Mbalula said they are all over, every where and this kind of situation we ought to engage,” Bapela said.
Bapela further explained that they will convene a meeting with ZANU PF and other former liberation movements in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to address the issue of Zimbabweans migrating to South Africa. They believe that the current trend of such large-scale migration cannot continue without addressing its underlying causes.
“We have a meeting of the former liveration movements in SADC or Southern Africa and one of the agenda is going to be this particular matter.
This meeting is forthcoming, we are still working on the dates themselves and we just really have to have a commonness around it as former liberation movements and a shared perspective as FRELIMO, as ZANU PF, as SWAPO, as ANC and particularly the two countries Mozambique and Zimbabwe where we really ought to say this cannot continue as is,” Bapela emphasised.
ANC International Relations Sub-committee Deputy Chairperson Obed Bapela tells @XoliMngambi that there’ll be a meeting with Africa’s former liberation movements and one of the items on the agenda will be the high number of Zimbabweans in SA.
Source iHarare
