Lindiwe Zulu Applauds ZANU-PF

Participants in the heads-of-state gathering of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) which met in Lilongwe, Malawi on August 17 and 18, 2013., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Lindiwe Zulu applauds Zanu-PF

Sunday, 25 August 2013 00:00

Ms Lindiwe Zulu, a member of South African President Jacob Zuma’s outgoing facilitation team in

Zimbabwe, says Zanu-PF deservedly won the July 31 harmonised elections. Speaking in an interview on the sidelines of a luncheon held soon after President Mugabe’s inauguration ceremony in Harare last week, Ms Zulu also called on the MDC-T to accept defeat and help the country move forward.

The adviser to the South African presidency described the elections as free and fair, noting that she was in a better position to comment as she was involved in the process leading up to the plebiscite.

“I stand guided by Sadc’s position that these elections were free, fair and credible. Also as a person who was part of the process of going to the elections, I can also say that the elections were free and fair,” she said.

Ms Zulu reckons that Zanu PF romped to a massive victory because it did the “right things.”

“Obviously, I think for them to have won the election they did the right things that led the people to express their will. I say congratulations to them and I wish them well in Government,” she said.

Ms Zulu urged MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai to accept the results of the election. “I think now Zimbabwe should come first ahead of anything else. To those that lost the elections, I urge them now to look ahead and do what is best for their country and wait for the next elections. It may be difficult to accept the results, but the will of the people of Zimbabwe should exceed everything else.”

Ms Zulu said Sadc should now be united in calling for the lifting of sanctions against Zimbabwe.

Although she has officially completed her mandate as part of the facilitation team, Ms Zulu expressed willingness to work in support of Zimbabwe, especially on the issue of sanctions. “We should now speak as one voice in Sadc to call for the lifting of sanctions against Zimbabwe. These sanctions have an indirect negative impact on the whole of Sadc and they are also hurting the ordinary people.

“Our duties as the facilitation have ended, but I still remain open to assisting on any issues against Zimbabwe. I think the sanctions issue is one that we should really speak about with one voice,” she said.

Asked about her relationship with President Mugabe in the wake of the criticism that he levelled against her and their subsequent “make up” during the Sadc summit in Malawi last week, Ms Zulu said she holds President Mugabe in high esteem.

“I respect President Mugabe very much. But what I want to stress is that during my role in the facilitation team, we communicated professionally.

“I never wanted things to be turned into a Lindiwe Zulu issue, I was only doing a job, which was mainly to implement the GPA and give a roadmap to the elections and I am happy that we have completed our task and the elections are over,” she said.