An ANC delegation is expected to arrive in Zimbabwe on Tuesday, less than a month after Harare rebuffed Johannesburg’s offer to help end its neighbor’s economic and political crisis, reports Bloomberg. It will meet with officials from the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic-Front party and the government, Nick Mangwana, a Zimbabwean government spokesman told the news service. The International Monetary Fund warned earlier this year that Zimbabwe is in the grip of an economic and humanitarian crisis, with inflation soaring in triple-digits. Critics of the government have been jailed. – Jackie Cameron
US urges Southern Africa to help resolve Zimbabwe’s problems
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“The country is facing yet another drought and food insecurity problems,” Nichols said. “SADC can play a vital role in supporting that effort.”
Tensions between the two countries have been on the rise since June, after the southern African nation was named as one of the “foreign adversaries” exploiting nationwide protests in the U.S. over the killing of George Floyd.
Zimbabwe authorities have accused the U.S. of meddling in its internal affairs and fueling instability. In July, Patrick Chinamasa, the acting spokesperson of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front party, called Nichols “a thug.”
The Foreign Affairs Ministry rebuked Nichols this week for engaging in “megaphone diplomacy” by making disparaging public comments and attacks on the government, which it said were in violation of the rules of diplomatic relations.
Regional powerhouse, South Africa, will send a delegation from its ruling African National Congress party, to meet with Zanu-PF officials and other political stakeholders in the country to discuss its problems.
“The meeting, which will be held soon, is part of the usual dialog that we have with ANC,” the state-run Chronicle newspaper cited Obert Mpofu, Zanu-PF’s secretary for administration, as saying.
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