{"id":26464,"date":"2020-08-14T19:56:01","date_gmt":"2020-08-14T17:56:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/zimbabwe\/?p=26464"},"modified":"2020-08-14T19:56:01","modified_gmt":"2020-08-14T17:56:01","slug":"mnangagwa-in-a-fix-as-the-world-crumbles-under-his-feet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mnangagwa-in-a-fix-as-the-world-crumbles-under-his-feet","title":{"rendered":"Mnangagwa in a fix as the world crumbles under his feet"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>CORNERED President Emmerson Mnangagwa blocked envoys sent by his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa from meeting opposition political party leaders and civil society organisations fearing humiliation ahead of the annual virtual Sadc heads of state summit, which kicks off on Monday next week, emerging details show.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Following a vicious crackdown on individuals critical of the Zimbabwe government, Ramaphosa sent former minister Sydney Mufamadi and former deputy president and speaker Baleka Mbete to Zimbabwe to engage with the government and other stakeholders on the obtaining political crisis underlined by gross human rights abuses.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>They brought with them former South Africa\u2019s minister of public service and administration Ngoako Ramatlhodi, a special advisor to Ramaphosa in the ruling African National Congress (ANC).<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>This comes as regional and international governmental organisations, including the traditionally cautious Sadc and African Union, have spoken openly about the need to find a solution to the crisis.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>A social media campaign #ZimbabweanLivesMatter, which exploded in the immediate aftermath of the thwarted July 31 protests, brought the world\u2019s attention to the human rights violations in Zimbabwe, characterised by abductions and arrests of prominent civil rights activists, opposition politicians and journalists.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Mbete, Mufamadi and Ramatlhodi flew back to Pretoria soon after their meeting with Mnangagwa, Foreign Affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo and senior government officials at State House on Monday, without meeting opposition parties and civil society organisations as earlier planned.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>While government has, in the aftermath of the meeting, claimed the three did not have a mandate to meet with opposition parties, the South African presidency had clearly stated in its statement earlier that the special envoys were expected to engage \u201cthe government of Zimbabwe and relevant stakeholders\u201d to identify possible ways in which South Africa can assist Zimbabwe.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>With that understanding of the terms of reference, Mbete\u2019s delegation made prior arrangements with the South African embassy in Harare to organise meetings with the relevant stakeholders other than the government, only for them to be prevented from meeting anyone by Mnangagwa.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Official sources said the Monday meeting was tense, with Mnangagwa strongly rebuking the envoys of breaching diplomatic protocol by arranging meetings with opposition parties and civil society organisations without his consent.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The envoys expressed concern over reports of human rights abuses and the crackdown on the opposition, journalists and human rights activists. They told Mnangagwa that Ramaphosa, who is also the AU chair, was keen to know what was happening and what role he can play to diffuse tension.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Mnangagwa and Moyo, however, reportedly expressed concern over the three\u2019s conduct.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Officials said Mnangagwa and his delegation kept telling the envoys that there was no crisis in Zimbabwe, arguing that the impression that there was a crisis was coming from the countries\u2019 Western enemies working with local partners, averments he already had made in his Heroes and Defence Forces Day speeches.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cThey produced old videos and pictures which were being circulated on the social media to argue that the #ZimbabweanLivesMatter campaign was being run on old material belonging to the previous administration and insisted that there was no crisis in the country,\u201d an official said.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cThe president actually accused the envoys of breaching protocol by setting up meetings outside their mandate since their role was to just convey President Ramaphosa\u2019s message and to hear the side of the Zimbabwe government.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cHe told them that they were just presidential envoys and not a fact-finding mission and as such, they were not mandated to meet everyone else except the president and his team.\u201d<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Through South African ambassador to Zimbabwe Mphakama Mbete \u2013 brother to Baleka \u2013 the envoys had already scheduled meetings with MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa, MDC-T leader Thokozani Khupe and the Political Actors Dialogue through Lovemore Madhuku as well as a number of civil society organisations.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cThe common sentiment within was that there is unjustified pressure on government ahead of the Sadc heads of state meeting which is taking place next week, probably so that the country can be put on the security agenda. That is the main reason why they could not be allowed to get a second opinion,\u201d a source said.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CORNERED President Emmerson Mnangagwa blocked envoys sent by his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa from meeting opposition political party leaders and civil society organisations fearing humiliation ahead of the annual virtual Sadc heads of state summit, which kicks off on Monday next week, emerging details show. Following a vicious crackdown on individuals critical of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":26465,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8,12],"tags":[34,585],"class_list":{"0":"post-26464","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-head-lines","9":"category-policy","10":"tag-emmerson-mnangagwa","11":"tag-sadc"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.1 (Yoast SEO v24.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Mnangagwa in a fix as the world crumbles under his feet - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"CORNERED President Emmerson Mnangagwa blocked envoys sent by his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa from meeting opposition political party\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mnangagwa-in-a-fix-as-the-world-crumbles-under-his-feet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mnangagwa in a fix as the world crumbles under his feet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"CORNERED President Emmerson Mnangagwa blocked envoys sent by his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa from meeting opposition political party\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mnangagwa-in-a-fix-as-the-world-crumbles-under-his-feet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-08-14T17:56:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2020\/08\/Mnangagwa-3-678x381-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"678\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"381\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mnangagwa-in-a-fix-as-the-world-crumbles-under-his-feet\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mnangagwa-in-a-fix-as-the-world-crumbles-under-his-feet\",\"name\":\"Mnangagwa in a fix as the world crumbles under his feet - zimbabwe\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mnangagwa-in-a-fix-as-the-world-crumbles-under-his-feet#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mnangagwa-in-a-fix-as-the-world-crumbles-under-his-feet#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2020\/08\/Mnangagwa-3-678x381-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-08-14T17:56:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-08-14T17:56:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/2e02b5816e71b1149d79877f669a85e4\"},\"description\":\"CORNERED President Emmerson Mnangagwa blocked envoys sent by his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa from meeting opposition political party\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mnangagwa-in-a-fix-as-the-world-crumbles-under-his-feet#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mnangagwa-in-a-fix-as-the-world-crumbles-under-his-feet\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mnangagwa-in-a-fix-as-the-world-crumbles-under-his-feet#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2020\/08\/Mnangagwa-3-678x381-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2020\/08\/Mnangagwa-3-678x381-1.jpg\",\"width\":678,\"height\":381},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mnangagwa-in-a-fix-as-the-world-crumbles-under-his-feet#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Mnangagwa in a fix as the world crumbles under his feet\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/\",\"name\":\"zimbabwe\",\"description\":\"\u0623\u062e\u0628\u0627\u0631 \u064a\u0648\u0645\u064a\u0629 \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u0645\u062f\u0627\u0631 \u0627\u0644\u0633\u0627\u0639\u0629\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/2e02b5816e71b1149d79877f669a85e4\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mnangagwa in a fix as the world crumbles under his feet - zimbabwe","description":"CORNERED President Emmerson Mnangagwa blocked envoys sent by his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa from meeting opposition political party","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mnangagwa-in-a-fix-as-the-world-crumbles-under-his-feet","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mnangagwa in a fix as the world crumbles under his feet","og_description":"CORNERED President Emmerson Mnangagwa blocked envoys sent by his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa from meeting opposition political party","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mnangagwa-in-a-fix-as-the-world-crumbles-under-his-feet","og_site_name":"zimbabwe","article_published_time":"2020-08-14T17:56:01+00:00","og_image":[{"width":678,"height":381,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2020\/08\/Mnangagwa-3-678x381-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mnangagwa-in-a-fix-as-the-world-crumbles-under-his-feet","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mnangagwa-in-a-fix-as-the-world-crumbles-under-his-feet","name":"Mnangagwa in a fix as the world crumbles under his feet - zimbabwe","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mnangagwa-in-a-fix-as-the-world-crumbles-under-his-feet#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mnangagwa-in-a-fix-as-the-world-crumbles-under-his-feet#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2020\/08\/Mnangagwa-3-678x381-1.jpg","datePublished":"2020-08-14T17:56:01+00:00","dateModified":"2020-08-14T17:56:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/2e02b5816e71b1149d79877f669a85e4"},"description":"CORNERED President Emmerson Mnangagwa blocked envoys sent by his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa from meeting opposition political party","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mnangagwa-in-a-fix-as-the-world-crumbles-under-his-feet#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mnangagwa-in-a-fix-as-the-world-crumbles-under-his-feet"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mnangagwa-in-a-fix-as-the-world-crumbles-under-his-feet#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2020\/08\/Mnangagwa-3-678x381-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2020\/08\/Mnangagwa-3-678x381-1.jpg","width":678,"height":381},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mnangagwa-in-a-fix-as-the-world-crumbles-under-his-feet#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mnangagwa in a fix as the world crumbles under his feet"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/","name":"zimbabwe","description":"\u0623\u062e\u0628\u0627\u0631 \u064a\u0648\u0645\u064a\u0629 \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u0645\u062f\u0627\u0631 \u0627\u0644\u0633\u0627\u0639\u0629","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/2e02b5816e71b1149d79877f669a85e4","name":"cfeditoren"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26464\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}