
President Mnangagwa stressed ZANU-PF’s neutrality in the opposition’s internal conflicts and acknowledged the potential advantage it offers his party, saying the conflicts represent an opportunity to strengthen ZANU-PF’s dominance of Zimbabwe’s democratic scene.
In an exclusive interview with “Brick by Brick” magazine, the president admitted that he enjoyed the internal conflict witnessed by the opposition. For him, these battles serve a purpose – they weaken the opponent, making him unable to challenge Zanu-PF.
When asked about the factional wars that have left the Western-born opposition in disarray, the president’s response was terse: “I’m laughing and having fun.”
“Look, I’m the head of a political party. If my opponents are fighting, I laugh and have fun. Why do I bother saying that I want a very strong opposition that can challenge me?
“It is good to have opposition. Our laws allow opposition and that is why the opposition parties are here. They have their own internal conflicts and internal difficulties. It is legitimate for them. They must solve their problems. They cannot expect Zanu-PF to go and intervene and say: look You are getting weaker and weaker, and this is not in our interest. No! The president said: We will not do that.
After losing last year’s coordinated elections to ZANU-PF, the Citizens’ Alliance for Change found itself embroiled in factional wars marked by recalls from both parliament and local authorities. These internal conflicts not only led to costly by-elections, but also led to the Communist Alliance Party split into four distinct factions. These factions are now competing to obtain the funds disbursed under the Political Parties (Finance) Law.
In response to the wild and unsubstantiated assertions by opposition officials and their supporters about infiltration, the president’s solution is clear and straightforward – remove the infiltrators.
“They should remove those who infiltrated them (laughs).” this is the only solution. “Just remove them,” he said.
Moreover, President Mnangagwa said the ruling party, which played a pivotal role in establishing democracy and political pluralism after a long struggle for liberation, cannot enact laws that oppress individuals. Expressing different opinions or points of view.
“If people don’t understand each other and can’t work together, they’ll say so. You can’t make a law that says don’t disagree (He laughs)”.
On the international scene, the president strongly criticized the US government for turning a blind eye to the genocidal massacre of Palestinians in Gaza by Israel. Ironically, America itself then began lecturing Zimbabwe about democracy and human rights, using a double-edged approach.
That is why we said that America applies double standards. This is a clear example of double standards. There is nothing completely human rights-related you can talk about here in Zimbabwe.
“We are a free and democratic country. We allow opposition and we allow elections. If America wants to know where democracy is practiced, they should come to Harare. They should come to Zimbabwe and see democracy in action.”
Zimbabwe, in its bold attempt to correct inequality in the colonial territories, faced illegal economic sanctions from the Western world. Punitive prohibition has clearly been used as a tool for regime change.
Recently, the United States made partial adjustments to these illegal sanctions, but President Mnangagwa remains steadfast – such partial changes are unacceptable. Sanctions must be lifted completely.
“Well, we’ve had these sanctions on us since 2001. It’s been about 23 years now. These sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe are illegal. This is also the position of the United Nations Security Council. Now, the Biden administration has proposed removing some of them and leaving others running.
“We say no. In the first place, they are completely illegal. They must go entirely. We cannot feel improved by removing part of the illegality and leaving part of the illegality on us. The illegality must go entirely,” he said.
He added: “These sanctions have been imposed on us for more than 23 years. I don’t think there is anyone in Zimbabwe who is not sleeping because of the sanctions. We are only reminded of sanctions when people talk about them. “We don’t feel like we’re being sanctioned,” the president said.
President Mnangagwa reaffirmed Zimbabwe’s commitment to its engagement and re-engagement efforts on the international stage. At the same time, the country continues to focus on implementing policies that drive accelerated industrialization and modernization, in line with the ambitious goals of Vision 2030.
* Tomorrow the Chronicle will publish another story from the interview, in which the President addresses the Gukurahundi issue and explores ways to reach a lasting solution. Announce