Despite claiming to have clarified issues in a no holds barred meeting held in Harare on Wednesday, Zanu PF and ANC continues to issue conflicting statements, revelations that the announcements could have been stage-managed.

Addressing journalists on Friday, Zanu PF said the ANC will not be allowed to be a big brother to Zimbabwe while claiming that South Africa has never supported its neighbor financially since independence in 1980.

The top Zanu PF officials also said Zimbabwe and South Africa are two independent countries with sovereign rights.

This comes as some South African officials, who include Lindiwe Zulu and Tony Yengeni, who were part of an ANC delegation that met Zanu PF officials on Wednesday, in a no-holds barred indaba between the two former liberation war movements, continued to claim there was a crisis in Zimbabwe and the South African ruling party would return to meet the opposition in the country.

The abrasive attitude from some members of the South African delegation flies in the face of the head of the ANC delegation Cde Ace Magashule’s utterances to the effect that there was no crisis in the country and that as a sovereign State, Zimbabwe had the capacity to tackle its challenges, that were a common feature across the continent.

Responding to questions from journalists at a Press conference held at Zanu PF Headquarters yesterday, the ruling party’s secretary for External Affairs, Cde Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, said fraternal parties could only help each other on invitation.

“Friendly and sisterly organisations only come to the help of each other on invitation. We help each other on invitation, we enjoy sovereign equality, both as political parties as well as nations, therefore, no party, especially a sister party can employ this on another sister party.

“It is common knowledge that some individuals in our sister party the ANC had been made to believe that there was a crisis in Zimbabwe. We are not sure how they became convinced with that, but some of them came here with that notion, however, in our meeting the notion of a crisis in Zimbabwe was quickly dismissed,” Cde Mumbengegwi said.

He said the meeting, which lasted for more than six hours focused on the challenges bedevilling the region and how they can best be resolved and pooh-poohed notions of a crisis that have been concocted by G40 fugitives residing in South Africa.

“The question of a sister party coming to the country of another sister party to establish bilateral relations with the opposition party is unheard of (as) that can only happen in the context of mediation and mediation can only occur with the consent of the conflicting parties. But where there is no crisis, there is no real need for mediation and therefore no purpose will be served by trying to play a mediatory role, where there is no crisis and where there is no conflict and more importantly, where there is no consent of the parties involved,” said Cde Mumbengegwi.