The leader of the opposition MDC, Nelson Chamisa told former South African President Thabo Mbeki the Zimbabwe military should be part of the dialogue with President Emmerson Mnangagwa as part of moves to rescue the economy.
The Thabo Mbeki Foundation is handling dialogue between Chamisa and Mnangagwa with the support of the South African government, according to a local publication.
Mbeki was in Zimbabwe in December and met Mnangagwa, Chamisa and other fringe political players that make up the Political Actors Dialogue (Polad). Chamisa has refused to join Polad insisting for bilateral talks with Mnangagwa.
Chamisa told Mbeki the military should be involved in the talks. On the eve of the 2002 Presidential election, the military — headed by then Zimbabwe Defence Forces commander Vitalis Zvinavashe — said the presidency was a “straitjacket” and they would no support anyone without liberation war credentials to occupy the office.
This was in apparent reference to then MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
The military has not retracted that statement. Linda Maso, South counsellor for political affairs at the South African Embassy in Harare, said Chamisa has raised the issue of the military.
“We understand that Chamisa has raised a lot of matters in the dialogue including the issue of the military during his meeting in South Africa last week with former President Mbeki, but we were not in the meeting in Pretoria since it was a private meeting,” Maso said.
“But we are being briefed by our government in Pretoria to help to facilitate for further meetings in Harare as Mbeki promised to come back to Zimbabwe when he left in December.”
Added Maso: “We are now waiting for further instructions from our government to know when former President Mbeki is coming back for the dialogue to resume.
We saw Chamisa interviews on television in South Africa and also heard his radio interviews and about the dialogue and we are ready to facilitate with the logistics of the dialogue that includes former President Mbeki if he comes back to Zimbabwe.”
But Presidential spokesperson George Charamba dismissed the call by Chamisa to involve the military in the dialogue saying it was unconstitutional.
