MDC President Nelson Chamisa says only the people of Zimbabwe have the power to chat the destiny of their country, and not President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of a meeting he held with party provincial structures in Gweru Thursday, Chamisa said the fate of Zimbabwe is now in the hands of its citizens.
He went on to dismiss Mnangagwa as a mere ‘individual’.
On what course of action MDC would take if Mnangagwa continued to refuse dialogue overtures made, Chamisa said it was now up to Zimbabweans to determine their future.
“It’s not just a question of Mr Mnangagwa, he has no power to define the course of this country. He is just an individual, one citizen,” Chamisa said.
He called for collective action in addressing myriad challenges affecting the country.
“It has to be defined by all of us and we have to come together breaking barriers so that we have an initiative of
national consensus,” Chamisa said.
“Let all Zimbabweans come together, churches, trade unions, labour bodies, youth groups, women’s groups, civic
groups, traditional leaders, political parties we all come together and chat a way forward for this country.
Chamisa said Zimbabwe will only come out of the economic challenges being experienced if it solves its politics.
“Zimbabwe is about its politics that is broken, it’s about its relations that have to be mended, the political instability that should be dealt with, it’s a crisis of governance, crisis of legitimacy.”
The main opposition leader said there must be general consensus on what the country’s problems were.
“We must agree as Zimbabweans what our problem is, what our ailment is and once we have done that, we can cure that problem. If we have comprehensive reforms, a nation building agenda, a national healing programme and then we will be able to have a re-engagement plan at a national level so that we will be able to feed into the international re-engagement programme.
“Once we have done that we will be able to deal with the international community.”
Speaking on the reasons for calling for an urgent dialogue with his political nemesis, Mnangagwa, Chamisa said: “We must look at our problems collectively and together as a people, it takes two to tango, we must smoke a peace pipe for this country to enjoy peace.”
He added that citizens were the authors of the country’s destiny.
“Zimbabweans are suffering; the whole country is in trouble, we have to make sure that we deal with the problems as Zimbabweans.
“Zimbabweans are the authors of this country, they have a right, they are the authority at the end of the day,” he said.
