BY KENNETH NYANGANI Opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) leader Nelson Chamisa has quashed reports that he is in talks with President Emmerson Mnangagwa with the aim of forming a government of national unity.
Chamisa was responding to reports by Presidential spokesperson George Charamba, who last week claimed that the CCC leader was behind the Zimbabwe Heads of Christian Denominations proposal to defer elections for seven years.
“I am not engaged with Mnangagwa on any dialogue regarding a government structure. The only dialogue and pact I have called for is the pre-election pact that must be done. I also disagreed with the proposal by the churches to have a sabbatical on elections and said we only need a sabbatical on election violence,” Chamisa told journalists on Sunday on the sidelines of the Workers Day celebrations, which were held in Dzivarasekwa in Harare.
CCC deputy spokesperson Gift Siziba yesterday told NewsDay that the only pact that Chamisa wanted with all political parties was electoral reforms.
“We need a national dialogue with political parties on the pre-election pact and electoral reforms so that we put an end to the past of contested elections. We don’t want violence in the next elections, and we don’t need the abuse of State institutions at all,” Siziba said.
“We don’t want a political dialogue to share power, we want dialogue with all political parties, and Zanu PF being our major opponent, on electoral reforms. Chamisa has never refused dialogue with all political parties on electoral reforms.”
Political analyst Maxwell Saungweme said there was need for Chamisa and Mnangagwa to engage in dialogue to end socio-economic problems bedevilling the country.
“The socio-economic and political challenges facing the country cannot be unlocked by political science. After every war, people engage in dialogue. Even after independence, we engaged in dialogue. Zimbabwe needs dialogue,” he said.
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“If President Mnangagwa and Chamisa care about Zimbabwe, they should be able to talk to each other. I don’t find any wisdom in one saying they don’t want to talk to the other, even for the electoral reforms, there is need for dialogue. After all we are all Zimbabweans.”
Another political analyst Sydicks Muradzikwa said: “Chamisa is not refusing to engage in dialogue, but he is refusing the terms of reference for the dialogue. He is simply saying that President Mnangagwa is part of the problem and cannot be part of the solution, and cannot be the convenor of the dialogue. That is the major reason he is refusing to talk to Mnangagwa. If there is no dialogue, we are going to continue to see the same problems.”
The youthful opposition leader, who contested the 2018 polls as the MDC Alliance presidential candidate, has refused to recognise Mnangagwa’s electoral victory citing vote rigging.
He has also refused to be part of the Political Actors Dialogue created by Mnangagwa and made up of losing fringe 2018 presidential aspirants.
- Follow Kenneth on Twitter @KennethNyangan1
