PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday ruled out another coalition with MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai shortly after visiting the ailing opposition leader at his Highlands home in Harare yesterday.
BY XOLISANI NCUBE
“Currently, there is no need,” he said shortly after meeting the former Prime Minister.
Pressed further on the question of a coalition, as there was a strong lobby for it, Mnangagwa insisted there would be none.
“We are a democratic country, people can lobby for anything,” he said curtly.
Since Mnangagwa’s rise to the presidency, there have been calls for a unity government, which many hope is the best way out of the economic crisis, but these have been dismissed by the ruling party.
Mnangagwa, with his deputy, Constantino Chiwenga, paid a largely unexpected visit to Tsvangirai, with pictures portraying an unwell MDC-T leader.
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The President said Tsvangirai, who is battling cancer of the colon, was recuperating well and would soon travel to South Africa for further treatment.
“He is fine. He is recuperating very well and he says he will soon go back for further medical check-ups in South Africa,” he said.
Mnangagwa and Chiwenga’s visit comes amid reports that the government has offered to fund part of the former Prime Minister’s medical bills.
Last year, former President Robert Mugabe reportedly came to the rescue of his political nemesis by providing $70 000 for medical treatment.
The MDC-T leader has been unwell for close to a year after being diagnosed with cancer of the colon. He has been frequenting South Africa for medical treatment.
Mnangagwa was received by Tsvangirai’s deputy, Nelson Chamisa, the former premier’s wife, Elizabeth, and MDC-T secretary for elections, Murisi Zwizwai.
Chamisa said the visit signified the dawn of a new political era characterised by passion for one another regardless of different political ideologies.
“It’s a welcome thing. It’s African to care for one another, it’s very Zimbabwean, and this is the new politics we would want to see,” he said.
“The politics of working together and of feeling for each other, this is the direction.
“I hope that it would be the kind of talk that would be walked and the kind of walk that would be sustained.”
Chamisa said he hoped the compassion shown by Mnangagwa and Chiwenga would be sustained in the forthcoming elections.
Tsvangirai’s spokesperson, Luke Tamborinyoka said the two leaders discussed the current cash crisis affecting the country and the need to engage the international community.
“The two leaders discussed the current dire situation in the country, the plight of the people, the cash crisis afflicting the country, the urgency of free and fair elections to ensure a return to legitimacy, as well as the need to engage the international community so that the country rejoins the family of nations,” he said.
