Mmusi Maimane playing to the gallery, says Zim government

Zimbabwe’s government on Tuesday said Mmusi Maimane was “playing to the gallery” after the DA leader threatened to approach the UN and the International Criminal Court over the  country’s political crisis.

Human rights organisations say 12 people have died and hundreds injured in a  government crackdown that followed protests over a fuel hike a fortnight ago.

To date, 1,100 people, mostly MDC supporters, including six opposition MPs and popular activist pastor Evan Mawarire, have been arrested in a brutal crackdown whose victims include juveniles accused of taking part in violent protests.

On Monday, Maimane joined the growing international criticism of the military-led crackdown, accusing President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration of “a dictator-like clampdown on citizens”. In a statement made available to Business Day on Tuesday evening, Zimbabwe’s minister of information, publicity and broadcasting services, Monica Mutsvangwa, said Maimane’s statement was “unfortunate and ill-informed”.

“It is regrettable that Maimane has assumed an aggressive posture for the gallery,"  Mutsvangwa said. Before approaching the UN and the ICC, Maimane could have engaged Sadc or the AU, he said, while accusing the DA of being a “supremacist” party.

"It is thus unfortunate that the domestic issues of Zimbabwe have been appropriated by a South African opposition party, which has regrettably taken a position without engaging the Zimbabwean authorities. The Zimbabwe government will engage with anyone, including those who believe in questionable supremacist politics," she said.