PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday reportedly chickened
out of a church-organised presidential candidates’ indaba, which could have
brought him within spitting distance of his closest challenger MDC Alliance
presidential candidate Nelson Chamisa ahead of the month-end polls.
The high-profile meeting had been organised by the Catholic
Church-run Silveira House to enable the 23 presidential contestants in this
year’s elections to interact as part of efforts to foster multi-party democracy
in the country.
Both protagonists had, according to the organisers,
initially confirmed attendance to the interface in Harare before making an 11th
hour volte face citing “pressing commitments”.
The meeting eventually attracted a handful of presidential
aspirants, among them People’s Rainbow Coalition candidate Joice Mujuru who
left in a huff and without speaking, Coalition of Democrats’ Elton Mangoma,
Nkosana Moyo of the Alliance for People’s Agenda and MDC-T vice-president Obert
Gutu.
Mnangagwa’s spokesperson George Charamba yesterday seemed
to confirm reports that the Zanu PF leader absconded the gathering to avoid
being waylaid into a presidential debate with his rivals.
“We very much support the peace efforts (by the church). In
fact, that’s their raison d’etre. (But) where you have them seeking to
introduce a presidential debate, then that is beyond the Bible. In our
communications strategy, we do not have room for that,” Charamba said.
Spokesperson of the organisers Father Arnold Moyo, without
singling out individuals, said candidates who absented themselves gave
last-minute excuses. Both Mnangagwa and Chamisa had campaign rallies in Kadoma
and Kariba, respectively.
“We sent invitations to all candidates, many of them
confirmed but some for various reasons could not come. Some of the reasons
highlighted include ‘commitments’ but we are grateful to those who could attend
in as far as instilling a sense of multi-party democracy and mutual respect is
concerned,” Moyo said.
He added: “The same factors that I have highlighted;
commitments that came up. We had hoped that they would send representatives,
but that did not happen. We can only invite and hope that they come because we
thought this was a very significant event. Initially, there was confirmation.”
But insiders within the Catholic Church said Mnangagwa had
told emissaries that he would not attend if Chamisa was part of the gathering.
“Mnangagwa indicated he would not attend if Chamisa was
part of the programme. If anything, he was one of a few who never really gave
their word that they would come to the event,” NewsDay heard.
Chamisa, who in March this year challenged Mnangagwa for a
public television debate ahead of the polls, yesterday said he would have
attended had he been formally invited to the meeting .
“No. He was not invited in any formal way. He would
certainly have made arrangements. I fear that their invitation may have been
lost in the system. It did not reach me,” said Chamisa’s spokesperson Nkululeko
Sibanda.
But event organisers insisted that the youthful opposition
leader had confirmed, but made a last-minute cancellation on Wednesday night,
citing pressing commitments.
“Chamisa confirmed he was coming. He was aware of his
rallies and this excuse is only a mirage. The reasons run deeper than this
narrative we are being fed,” said a top Catholic priest who declined to be
named.
Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference secretary-general
Father Fredrick Chiromba was a bit more diplomatic, saying: “Originally, this
event was supposed to be held on July 16, people like the MDC Alliance
president (Chamisa) said he had cancelled his rallies at the time and later
called last night (Wednesday), saying he could not cancel his rallies for a
second time. For President Mnangagwa being the leader of the country and a
candidate, there is a lot of work.”
He added that as a citizen he was happy with the election
preparations so far, adding there was still room for the few sticking points to
be resolved through dialogue before the polls.
Zimbabweans troop to the polls on July 30, the first
without the country’s founding leader Robert Mugabe who stepped down under
pressure from the military, Parliament and ordinary citizens last November.
Chamisa has, however, already raised a red flag, accusing
the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) of creating conditions that seem to
favour Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF party.
Mnangagwa has rejected the claims that he was being
favoured and challenged his foes to seek recourse at the courts of law,
insisting that elections would proceed as scheduled.
Chamisa yesterday told his supporters in Kariba that there
was no going back on their planned five-day sit-in at the Zec offices.
“Tomorrow (today) we are going to meet (former UN
secretary-general and Elders’ Council chair) Kofi Annan and if we fail to agree
(with Zec) next week we are going to shut down Harare. I’m going to call
everyone in Harare and show them. This time they will not cheat. I know that
President Emmerson Mnangagwa is working with Chigumba to rig these elections,
but this time they will not succeed,” he said.
Mnangagwa on the other hand, told his Zanu PF supporters in
Kadoma that Zec and Chigumba were discharging their duties independent of
government.
“Right now we are in the election period and in our
electoral process. Zec is an independent commission; it is not controlled by
the government. Its composition is made by Parliament of Zimbabwe and not
government.”
Mnangagwa, however, acknowledged that many Zanu PF
candidates in the July 30 elections made it through rigging and vote buying.
“In our party we said no more impositions, be it
councillors, Members of Parliament or even senators, no more impositions at
all. The power comes from the people, all of us are here because of the power
that we are given by the people. Anyone who wants to be a leader in the party
should know that they are a servant to the people,” he said.
Meanwhile, one of the MDC Alliance principals, Tendai Biti,
said they have been promised “shiploads” of money in foreign direct investment
if the opposition party won the forthcoming elections. Newsday
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