By Political Reporter- The government of Zambia has said that it will engage Harare over President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s selling-out allegations he levelled against Lusaka.

Mnangagwa was captured in a video telling Russian leader Vladmir Putin in St Petersburg on the sidelines of an investment summit saying that Zambia was now a threat to the region because of its relations with the West.

Mnangagwa was seeking assistance from Russia to revive its two-decade-long economic woes worsened by isolation from Britain, America and their Western allies.

Zambia, under the Hakainde Hichilema administration, is enjoying good relations with these countries, which dumped Zimbabwe at the turn of the millennium after the late President Robert Mugabe chased away former white commercial farmers from their farms without compensation.

Zambian Information and Media Minister Cornelius Mweetwa is quoted by a private daily newspaper Sunday saying the country’s Foreign Affairs ministry was engaging authorities in Harare.
“Zambia and Zimbabwe enjoy cordial relations, we are one people. On that video, we do not want to make a quick response but our Foreign Affairs ministry is engaging the government of Zimbabwe over the issue,” he said.
“l also want to highlight that these matters are not for media consumption, that is my comment at the moment.”

In the video, Mnangagwa was quoted telling Putin that the West ditched Zimbabwe in favour of Zambia.

“And in that process, the West will run away. You see, the West has just begun consolidating its power in Zambia, our neighbour.
“You know, there was a time when Zambia and Zimbabwe were one; it was called Northern and Southern Rhodesia. It was made one by the British, but they are now separate.
“And the Americans are consolidating their power in that country, both in terms of security and in terms of financial support to Zambia to make sure that we feel lonely.”

NewsDay/ZimEye