OPPOSITION MDC leader, Nelson Chamisa yesterday said he would gladly accept dialogue convened by former South African President Thabo Mbeki to end political hostilities between him and President Emmerson Mnangagwa and resolve the country\u2019s deepening economic crisis.<\/p>\n
In an interview, Chamisa\u2019s spokesperson Nkululeko Sibanda described Mbeki as a neutral and credible mediator.<\/p>\n
Mbeki, who brokered the historic Global Political Agreement leading to the formation of the 2009-13 Government of National Unity bringing together the late former President Robert Mugabe (Zanu PF), late MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara of the MDC, was in Zimbabwe two weeks ago to explore possibilities of bringing Zimbabwe\u2019s key political actors to the negotiating table.<\/p>\n
The GNU came about following the 2008 disputed election.<\/p>\n
Mbeki last month indicated that he would return to Zimbabwe before year-end to continue with the talks after holding separate meetings withMnangagwa and Chamisa, but no reasons have been given for his no show.<\/p>\n
\u201cPresident Chamisa has said he was open to dialogue convened by a neutral and credible convener. The question which remains is whether President Mbeki is a neutral and credible convener. I think it speaks for itself. You know these are negotiations, we don\u2019t want to speak much,\u201d Sibanda said.<\/p>\n
The opposition\u2019s sentiments, which have also been backed by the Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC), come when there is pressure on the two arch rivals to dialogue to end the crisis which has stalled national development and brought the economy to its knees.<\/p>\n
However, Mnangagwa\u2019s Zanu PF government has declared it will not hold any talks with Chamisa outside the Political Actors Dialogue (Polad) platform he set up with fringe political parties that took part in the July 2018 elections. Chamisa on the other hand has refused to recognise the platform, describing it as a sideshow.<\/p>\n
Information secretary Ndavaningi Mangwana yesterday reiterated Mnangagwa\u2019s position saying no talks would be held between the Zanu PF leader and Chamisa outside Polad.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think people are not clear here. What exactly do people want ED and Chamisa to talk about?\u201d Mangwana asked rhetorically.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, churches have welcomed the \u201cbroad spectrum\u201d of dialogue initiated by Mbeki who was in Harare last month to try to nudge Zanu PF and MDC into dialogue to end the economic and political crises in the country.
\nThe ZCC, which has been calling for a seven-year sabbatical from elections to allow the country some healing and a chance to solve the economic and political problems, said although Zimbabweans were wary of Mbeki\u2019s \u201cquiet diplomacy\u201d, they welcomed his resolve to engage everyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cDue to past experiences with him, Zimbabweans will be reluctant and suspicious of Mbeki\u2019s efforts,\u201d ZCC general secretary Kennedy Mtata said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut that he has come to explore what needs to be done and that he thinks the broad spectrum of society must be involved in the process, is encouraging. At the end of the day, we as Zimbabweans will need to come to our senses and sort ourselves out.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOutsiders can only facilitate your engagement, but you must have the desire for transformation,\u201d Mtata said.
\n\u201cWe need no more piecemeal solutions. Let\u2019s break this cycle of retrogression and start afresh. Zimbabwe turns 40, if it was the biblical 40 years of the desert, we should by now be reaching our ultimate goal of a united, just and prosperous Zimbabwe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zimbabwe is doddering on the brink of a total economic collapse which Zanu PF blames on sanctions imposed on the country by the West but Chamisa claims Mnangagwa\u2019s \u201clack of legitimacy\u201d after the 2018 election is the cause of the country\u2019s problems.<\/p>\n
The two protagonists have repeatedly snubbed calls to dialogue, with Chamisa demanding that Mnangagwa\u2019s disputed legitimacy should be on the agenda, while the Zanu PF leader insists that the opposition youthful leader should first recognise him as the President of the country before any talks can commence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
OPPOSITION MDC leader, Nelson Chamisa yesterday said he would gladly accept dialogue convened by former South African President Thabo Mbeki to end political hostilities between him and President Emmerson Mnangagwa and resolve the country\u2019s deepening economic crisis. In an interview, Chamisa\u2019s spokesperson Nkululeko Sibanda described Mbeki as a neutral and credible mediator. Mbeki, who brokered […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":16866,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[113,88],"class_list":["post-17611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-chamisa","tag-mdc"],"yoast_head":"\n