Zimbabwean ambassador to Mozambique Victor Matematanda further demonstrating Zanu PF’s clumsy interference in neighbouring countries’ domestic political and electoral affairs – which sets a dangerous precedent – by taking sides in an elections dispute which is being handled by the courts amid attempts to broke internal talks.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is also the Southern African Development Community chair, also behaved in a partisan manner when he rushed with indecent haste to congratulate Mozambican President-Elect Daniel Chapo even before the official election results were announced, which was an unconstitutional and subversive act.
Zanu PF supports Frelimo and other former liberation movements in the region which are under siege from the rising opposition.
Mnangagwa’s undiplomatic approach and the subsequent fallout with some leaders across the region came amid brewing protests and post-election violence and chaos as Chapo’s Valencio Mondlane disputed and contested the results in the streets and the courts.
Mnangagwa now finds himself at sixes and sevens on how to deal with the Mozambique political and security situation now affecting neighbouring countries, particularly South Africa and Zimbabwe.
When he recently convened a Sadc extraordinary summit in Harare, initially meant to discuss Mozambique but later changed to a Democratic Republic of Congo meeting, most regional leaders did not attend, showing their displeasure and lack of confidence in his regional leadership.
Mozambique is at crossroads and the situation is worsened by the Islamic insurgency in the volatile Cabo Delgado region.
Mnangagwa has already failed to act as a neutral arbiter in the post-election conflict and his ambassador Matematanda’s remarks just further prove the failure of Harare’s diplomacy.
Video: VOA
