ZANU PF under President Mnangagwa is a party to be reckoned with in the fight against Western machinations, a delegation from Namibia’s governing party, SWAPO, led by its Secretary-General, Cde Sophia Shaningwa, said yesterday.
Speaking after paying a courtesy call on President Mnangagwa at State House in Harare, Cde Shaningwa said the meeting with the President, which was also attended by Zanu PF Secretary-General Dr Obert Mpofu, Zanu PF Director for External Relations Cde Gamuchirai Mangundu and senior party officials, was a traditional practice among the region’s six former liberation movements.
Critically, ahead of Namibia’s general elections in November, the SWAPO team described the meeting as an excursion to share experiences and processes with Zanu PF, a party that has been resolute in defence of African countries’ hard-won independence.
In particular, President Mnangagwa has been consistent in calling out the West on its regime change agenda through its sponsored local puppets.
In this regard, Cde Shaningwa said her party was ready for the polls and will tap into the fortitude of its sister party to offset the conspiracies of some Western countries.
“The SWAPO party of Namibia is ready for the November elections. Our presidential candidate, who is the current SWAPO and state Vice-President is Cde Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah. For that matter she is our mother and we are all rallying behind her,” she said.
Cde Shaningwa said it was important that SWAPO had bilateral exchanges with Zanu PF ahead of the November elections because of the latter’s knowledge and expertise.
“We are now heading for the November elections; Zanu PF is of course a team to be reckoned with. They have the expertise and they have the knowledge and therefore we cannot get into the elections without talking to Zanu PF.
“We are the six revolutionary parties and it is our responsibility that from time to time, the secretary generals of our parties visit one another to learn from each other, to also somehow speak about the experiences of our processes,” she added.
Uniting under the banner, “Former Liberation Movements of Southern Africa” (FLMSA), the six political parties which were involved in the African nationalist movements against colonialism and white-minority rule in Southern Africa are Zanu PF (Zimbabwe), the African National Congress (South Africa), Chama Cha Mapinduzi (Tanzania), FRELIMO (Mozambique), MPLA (Angola) and SWAPO (Namibia).
The SWAPO head of delegation said they were fully aware of the machinations by foreign forces, imperialists and counter-revolutionaries to remove former liberation movements from power.
She described the African National Congress (ANC) experience as “a sad development” but pledged they will not let the ANC down because as former liberation movements, “we are at war”.
“As former revolutionaries we are not retired yet. We are awake and 24/7 on duty. We have heard about counter-revolutionaries and imperialists busy supporting and funding opponents to remove the revolutionary parties from power and that our opponents are being supported.
“We have to strengthen our mobilisation with our people so there should be no reason why our people cannot believe in us. Therefore, the SWAPO party and Zanu PF are here to strengthen one another, to exchange information and also just to move forward knowing that we are at war.
“The ANC experience in South Africa is a sad development. But we are not going to let the ANC down. It is our sister party and we will re-assemble and come back as secretary generals to analyse the situation and to see how we can re-strengthen ourselves for the survival of the ANC going forward,” Cde Shaningwa said.
For the first time since the end of apartheid, the ANC failed to garner a clear majority in general elections that were held on 29 May 2024, forcing it into a Government of National Unity with the opposition Democratic Alliance and other smaller political parties.
The ANC received only 40.18 percent of votes, followed by the DA on 21.81 percent, Umkhonto Wesizwe (14.58 percent) and Economic Freedom Fighters (9.52 percent).
