Zimbabwe official wants to portray "true" political situation

HARARE, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- The head of the Zimbabwean delegation to the forthcoming Pan African Parliament's 10th Ordinary Session Joram Gumbo has said they will portray the true political situation in the country to counter exaggerations peddled by the hostile Western media, The Herald reported on Tuesday.

The PAP session, which begins this weekend, would discuss hot spots in Africa that include Sudan, Somalia and Kenya while Zimbabwe's March and June polls would be among subjects to be tabled for discussion, according to the state-owned newspaper's report.

PAP endorsed this year's March 29 harmonized elections but said the June 27 presidential run-off fell short of meeting continental standards.

Other members of the delegation include President of the Chiefs Council, Chief Fortune Charumbira and Mufakose Member of the House of Assembly, Ms Paurina Mpariwa.

Gumbo said he would go to Midrand, South Africa, the venue of the session, to tell the Zimbabwean story and not as what it has been portrayed by the hostile foreign media.

"We are going to give the true Zimbabwean situation and not what has been painted by CNN, BBC and SABC who do not really understand neither do they know what is really happening here," he said.

Gumbo is also ZANU-PF chief whip in Parliament and Mberengwa West Member of the House of Assembly.

"Zimbabwe held its elections in March and June and PAP sent its election observer team and this is why it would be on the agenda," he said.

Gumbo said the Zimbabwean delegation would apprise the continental body about the discussions aimed at constituting an inclusive government between ZANU-PF and the MDC formations.

He said this clearly demonstrated that there was no crisis in the country as Zimbabweans were capable of resolving their differences.

Some countries were facing worse problems than what Zimbabwe is experiencing, said Gumbo.

"Our situation is not the worst. There are worse situations than ours but people want to focus more on us because of our history, because we took away land and give it to black majority," he was quoted as saying.

Gumbo said it was critical that the local media take a robust stance in telling the Zimbabwean story. "Our problem is that our story is told by others," he said.

Head of PAP election observer team to Zimbabwe, Marwick Khumalois expected to table a report on the country's elections.