ED Taunts Critics, Says SADC Leaders Laugh At Reports Of Crisis In Zimbabwe

President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Friday taunted opposition political parties, human rights defenders and activists for agitating for regional intervention in the Zimbabwean crisis, saying they are wasting their time.

Addressing a ZANU PF central committee meeting in Harare yesterday, Mnangagwa said he chats with regional leaders regularly and they laugh at reports of the existence of a crisis. He said:

I can assure you almost on a weekly basis, currently, almost on any other day, I discuss with my brother (South African President Cyril) Ramaphosa, I discuss with my brother (Botswana President Mokgweetsi) Masisi (and) with Hage Geingob (Namibian President), we chat and laugh at your social media insinuations.

So you are wasting your time.

Mnangagwa again denied the existence of a crisis in the country and said the crisis exists in the minds and bedrooms of activists. He added:

The crisis exists in their minds, it exists in their parties. The crisis exists in their bedrooms, not in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe experienced a wave of abductions, politically-motivated arrests and torture of perceived opponents, including journalists and lawyers, ahead of the July 31 protests.

This prompted the South African government and the ruling African Nationa Congress (ANC) to send delegations in August and September respectively, to Harare to have an appreciation of the situation on the ground.

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