DA: Ramaphosa Visit To Mnangagwa Legitimises ZANU-PF “Dictatorship”

The Democratic Alliance (DA), part of South Africa’s Government of National Unity (GNU), has condemned President Cyril Ramaphosa’s unofficial visit to Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Precabe farm in Kwekwe on Sunday.

In a statement issued on Monday, 4 May, the DA’s International Relations spokesperson, Ryan Smith, said the visit came as the ruling ZANU-PF seeks to entrench its dictatorship in Zimbabwean law through the recently gazetted Constitution Amendment Bill No. 3 (CAB3).

He added that CAB3 introduces far-reaching proposals that would allow extended and potentially limitless presidential terms for ZANU-PF, under the guise of technical reforms to electoral cycles and governance structures.

“It is deeply telling that both President Ramaphosa and International Relations and Cooperation Minister (DIRCO), Ronald Lamola, remained deafeningly silent when President Mnangagwa and his regime arrested and detained Zimbabwean opposition leader, Tendai Biti, on the afternoon of 21 March 2026,” said Smith.

“Biti, who is the leader of the Constitution Defenders Forum (CDF), was detained by state authorities along with other party members and a local journalist in the town of Mutare while trying to incentivise greater public participation in the proposed constitutional amendment.”

Smith said South African foreign policy under the African National Congress (ANC) continues to sideline the country’s constitutional values of freedom, democracy and human rights, in favour of propping up a regional network of despots and dictators that the ANC relies on for support.

He said the presence of Wicknell Chivhayo and Kudakwashe Tagwirei during the meeting raises serious questions about Ramaphosa’s apparent support for regional corruption and state capture.

Smith said the DA rejects the ANC’s open fraternisation with neighbouring dictators and its refusal to acknowledge the lived reality of millions of persecuted Zimbabweans who remain in international limbo as a result.

“It is unsustainable and deeply unprincipled for the ANC to maintain the status quo of democratic capture on the African continent. Tens of thousands of South Africans lost their lives in the fight for freedom, yet today’s ANC sits side by side with the enemies of freedom across the continent,” added Smith.

Related:

DA Blames Zimbabwe’s “Democratic Backslide” For SA Immigration Crisis Mnangagwa Hosts Ramaphosa At Precabe Farm For Undisclosed Talks