The Zanu-PF official also said after they were informed by one of the senior ANC leaders that the priority was ousting Ramaphosa not addressing the Zimbabwe crisis, they felt secure, hence their open defiance of the South African government and Ramaphosa over the intervention.
Zanu-PF sources claim the scandal that followed the ANC delegation flying to Harare using a SA National Defence Force air force jet was leaked by a senior Luthuli House official due to divisions among them.
SA Defence minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula was part of the delegation.
The ANC later apologised and then pledged to refund government for costs incurred when its delegation hitched a ride on a South African Air Force plane to Zimbabwe. This was after a political storm over the incident that exposed the ANC’s apparent abuse of state resources.
The Zanu-PF official also said they agreed with the ANC delegate the Zimbabwe crisis is not an urgent issue – in fact there is no crisis. For Zanu-PF, the worry is the ANC meetings with G40 leaders and that has remained a bone of contention, he said.
ANC Secretary-General Ace Magashule has met with senior G40 leaders, Saviour Kasukuwere, Walter Muzembi and Patrick Zhuwao. Zanu-PF complained about this. It also protested why ANC was not reining in militant SA opposition EFF leader Julius Malema who is critical of President Mnangagwa.
This has also stoked tensions.
Meanwhile, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has invited Zimbabwe’s Zanu-PF director of information Tafadzwa Mugwadi to reveal his threatened “bombshell” regarding a recent visit by an ANC delegation to Zimbabwe.
Mugwadi has been embroiled in a prolonged war of words with SABC foreign editor Sophie Mokoena over what he claims to be biased reporting by South Africa’s public broadcaster.
Speaking to the SABC as the ANC marked its 109th anniversary this past week, Ramaphosa said Mugwadi could reveal his “bombshell”.
“In relation to Zimbabwe, I don’t know what the representative of Zanu-PF was talking about. I’m sure he will be willing to share all that with the ANC and with all of us. We sent a delegation, as the African National Congress, to Zimbabwe because Zanu-PF is a sister party to us.
“We have deep and strong links with Zanu-PF and it [the trip] was to express concern and also to find out what’s happening and to see the extent to which we can either be supportive and to fully understand what is happening. So as far as we are concerned there is nothing amiss and there is nothing we could say we have to hide.
“At government level, I appointed three envoys who went to Zimbabwe and we continue to interact with Zimbabwe, and I am also in contact with President Mnangagwa on an ongoing basis,” Ramaphosa said.
Mugwadi, also the Zanu-PF spokesperson, made the threat in reaction to what he has called “hostile reportage” against Zimbabwe and Zanu-PF by the SABC, and allegedly spearheaded by Mokoena, who often tags Mnangagwa in her Twitter posts.
Some of her tweets have, however, been flagged as “fake news”, particularly by Zanu-PF, as the pictures “depict incidents that did not happen in Zimbabwe”.
Recently, Mokoena asked Mnangagwa to explain the situation at the Beitbridge border post as thousands of Zimbabweans queued to enter South Africa.
On Sunday, Mokoena tackled Mugwadi, accusing him of floor-crossing and singing for his supper, joining Zanu-PF after he was previously an active member of the opposition-aligned Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU).
Mokoena shared a picture to her legion of followers, allegedly depicting Mugwadi attending an event of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
In some of his tweets, Mugwadi has called Mokoena “an embattled marriage wrecker in newsrooms” and in another tweet Mugwadi said Mokoena was “a concubine” of a senior ANC leader. He also accused Mokoena of dating one of Zimbabwe’s former cabinet ministers who had fled to South Africa.
The South African National Editors Forum (Sanef) has also called on the Zanu-PF leadership to step in and discipline Mugwadi. On Saturday, Sanef said Mugwadi’s remarks against Mokoena were a bid to “intimidate, harass, and stop her from doing her job “.
