OPPOSITION party Zapu has called for an inclusive political dialogue to resolve the social, political and economic ills afflicting the country.
Zapu president Sibangilizwe Nkomo said it was time for political players to jaw-jaw than to war-war, taking a leaf from Father Zimbabwe the late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo.
“We have spoken for a long time, but this has not taken us anywhere, efforts to revive the economy by the ruling party Zanu PF have failed.
“Even the Political Actors Dialogue [Polad] as a way of uniting political parties by Zanu PF failed to bear fruits,” the opposition leader said.
Other opposition leaders have made similar calls since the turn of the millennium as a way to tackle Zimbabwe’s multi-faceted problems.
Zimbabwe has been hopping from one crisis to another — political crisis, a crisis of confidence and cash crisis, among others.
This has stalled economic growth.
The call for dialogue could not have come at a better time following the acrimony created by last year’s election observer missions, which said Zimbabwe failed to meet the minimum regional and international requirements for the holding of a free and fair poll.
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The acrimony created a crisis of confidence which manifested in the sharp depreciation of the then local currency, Zimdollar.
The currency was rejected for transactive purposes with eight out of 10 transactions being conducted in United States dollars, according to data from the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency.
The Zimdollar was ditched in April and replaced by the Zimbabwe Gold, a gold and cash-backed currency.
While the economy has stabilised, it is still susceptible to exogenous shocks such as the effects of politics.
Critics say politics has been the elephant in the room for Zimbabwe, weighing down measures to stabilise the economy.
Zanu PF has rebuffed calls for genuine dialogue, saying engagements should be done via Polad, a platform for opposition political parties, but opposition leader Nelson Chamisa has refused to join the platform.
Polad was created in 2018 as a platform for opposition political parties to meet Mnangagwa and suggest ways to move the country forward.
The platform failed to garner the currency it was expected to after its members tripped over each other in a bid to bootlick Mnangagwa, worse after they got cars from the government.
History has shown that citizens enjoyed the best spell under the Government of National Unity (GNU), credited for stabilising the economy.
GNU was a Sadc-backed initiative which saw former rivals turning their swords into ploughshares.
The recent declaration by Zimbabwe National Army commander Lieutenant-General Anselem Sanyatwe that Zanu PF will rule forever feeds into the need for dialogue to foster economic development.
Dialogue premised on genuine desire to propel the country to success and not designed to create positions for cronies, is touted as the bridge between the status quo and prosperity.
No nation prospers when citizens are at each other’s throat.
