THE ongoing military crackdown on civilians following recent anti-governments protests has been cited as a major threat to efforts to bring President
Emmerson Mnangagwa and opposition MDC leader Nelson Chamisa to the negotiating table to resolve the current political and economic logjam.
Soldiers have been accused of unleashing a terror campaign on opposition activists and ordinary citizens countrywide, frustrating the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC)’s efforts to initiate dialogue.
The NPRC last week said it was working on the framework for dialogue that would bring together Mnangagwa, Chamisa, civic society organisations and other stakeholders in a bid to arrest the deteriorating situation in the country since last year’s controversial elections.
In a statement last week, the NPRC said it had conducted bilateral consultations with the goal of building consensus on the need for national dialogue and advised that it would soon invite sectoral representatives to jointly formulate the framework to guide the national dialogue process.
But the MDC yesterday said continued reports of harassment of civilians by the military could stifle the proposed talks.
MDC secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora said while his party was ready for talks, the failure by Mnangagwa to order the soldiers back to the barracks was a cause for concern.
“The gross human rights violations, targeting and decimating MDC is not conducive for dialogue,” Mwonzora said.
“So, clearly the government was not ready for dialogue. They are not genuine, but the MDC is ready, predicated of course upon a set of defined issues which benefit the people of Zimbabwe.”
