"It Won't Happen Again", ZANU PF Apologises For Insulting Hichilema
ZANU PF has apologised to Zambia’s ruling United Party for National Development (UPND) for inflammatory remarks made by some of its members against Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema.
Relations between the two countries became strained following Hichilema’s election victory, after which several of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s allies — including his spokesperson, George Charamba — publicly labelled Hichilema a “sellout.”
In a move to ease tensions, a UPND delegation led by secretary-general Batuke Imenda met with senior ZANU PF officials on Monday, including the party’s secretary for administration, Obert Mpofu. The delegation later paid a courtesy call on President Mnangagwa.
During the meeting, Mpofu assured the UPND delegation that ZANU PF members would refrain from making any further disparaging remarks about President Hichilema. Said Mpofu:
We also distance ourselves from the negative remarks made by some of our members.
And we wish to assure you that there will be no further negative publicity about Zambia as you are our brother and neighbour.
Here in Zimbabwe, we are under sustained attack from a variety of sources, including our own members being used by members of the opposition, as well as some Western governments which are actively funding foreign media to write inflammatory commentary coupled with insults and threats.
And our policy as a ZANU PF government is that we work with the political parties that are in power. Anything outside that is not entertained.
Mpofu also claimed that Hichilema’s party had supported ZANU PF in countering the March 31 demonstrations organised by self-exiled war veteran Blessed Geza. He said:
The recent widely publicised March 31 demonstrations were unsuccessful partly because of the co-operation we received from yourselves.
There was even an attempt earlier on, where we worked closely with the UPND, to thwart some intended demonstrations where opposition parties were going to ferry people from South Africa and some of our neighbouring countries to come and destabilise this country.
The UPND delegation’s visit was a reciprocal gesture, following a similar diplomatic visit by ZANU PF officials to Zambia last year, to strength ties between the two ruling parties.
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