PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa and his opposition counterpart
MDC leader Nelson Chamisa have gone on parallel diplomatic offensive campaigns
in pursuit of their diametrically opposed positions regarding the resolution to
the Zimbabwean crisis.
Chamisa is in South Africa, where he is also seeking to
capitalise on the neighbouring country’s taking over of the African Union
chairmanship to push for President Cyril Ramaphosa’s intervention and mediation
to end the Zimbabwean conundrum.
Mnangagwa will, meanwhile, be sending his emissaries under
the Political Actors
Dialogue (Polad) platform to several countries in and out
of Africa with a “clear briefing” from Foreign Affairs ministry on what to
sell.
“The role (of government) is facilitating international
engagements that Polad members will have across our borders. When they go out,
they need (Ministry of) Foreign Affairs briefings so that they know the
playground wherever they are going,” Foreign Affairs deputy minister David
Musabayana said yesterday.
Polad has been dismissed by Chamisa’s MDC as “Mnangagwa’s
runners” and their venture into the global arena is being viewed as bidding for
the Zanu PF leader.
The dialogue platform, comprising the MDC-T led by
Thokozani Khupe, the National Constitutional Assembly led by Lovemore Moyo and
other obscure political parties, has since met officials from the United States
embassy in Harare as part of their diplomatic offensive.
On his part, Chamisa yesterday said there was fresh
evidence on how the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) allegedly flouted the
law and procedures in their conduct during and after the July 31, 2018
elections, adding that Sadc together with the African Union must urgently
intervene to resolve the political contestations arising from that disputed
poll.
“2023 is out of the question. We will not be able to have
2023 until we resolve modern day questions. Today’s questions are so pertinent
to be resolved. So what we need to do is to resolve the unresolved 2018 elections
so that we pave way for any future elections. Otherwise we will have the
recycling of same old problems,” Chamisa told SABC Digital News.
“We now have new evidence, fresh evidence after the
Constitutional Court determination of the dispute between ourselves and Mr
Mnangagwa. Particularly the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) report that was
put in Parliament, where the commission is indicating that they flouted the law
and procedures of holding elections in announcing the results.
“That evidence has to be at the doorstep of Sadc, the AU
and, of course, South African President Ramaphosa, to show and validate that
these elections in Zimbabwe were rigged and stolen and what we need to do going
forward, in the context of Sadc and Zimbabwe, is to make sure that we have
comprehensive reforms and we have free and fair elections so that we do not
have a repeat of 2018 in 2023.
“Otherwise we will continue to have Zimbabwe on the table
of Sadc, on the table of South Africa if not at the doorstep as a nuisance,
which is not what we desire.”
Chamisa said it was sad that he last met Mnangagwa before
the 2018 elections.
“We have not met since the days of Parliament. It is now
two years, which is quite sad because under normal circumstances, people who
compete in an election are supposed to have a conversation, post an election to
find a way forward for the country. This is one of my saddest moments, I am
very disappointed,” he said.
“That is why we thought that (former South African)
President (Thabo) Mbeki, when he came (last month), he would facilitate for a
conversation. As you know in Africa, whenever there is a negotiation, there has
to be a negotiator because that is our nature as a people for us to be able to
deal with the disharmony: The misunderstanding between ourselves and Mr
Mnangagwa, it will be useful to have a credible negotiator and we think the
avenue and platform created by President Mbeki will go a long way in creating
this kind of conversation.”
Chamisa said Mbeki should be returning to Zimbabwe anytime
to try and unlock the deadlock on dialogue between the two leaders.
“The situation is even more urgent now than ever before
because the situation now in the country is really taking a nose-dive and
things are really going down in many ways. As I speak, people’s salaries are
being eroded, people do not have electricity, the situation has gone out of
hand. Unemployment hitting almost 98%,” he said.
Chamisa said the MDC was being treated like a banned
organisation, with their programmes being prohibited and the police ransacking
and searching the party offices for weapons of banditry and insurgence.
“So you can’t blame the victim for your own misfortunes. We
are victims of dictatorship, victims of a failed State and arrested development
in the country,” he said.
In an interview with NewsDay yesterday, the MDC leader
said: “A crisis in Zimbabwe will set ablaze the entire Sadc. There can’t be a
successful South Africa with a failing Zimbabwe. There can’t be a successful
South Africa, Mozambique and Botswana with a sick Zimbabwe.
“Fixing Zimbabwe is fixing the continent. There should be a
sense of urgency because the crisis has gone out of hand.
“We are not asking Sadc, the AU and South Africa to support
the MDC, but to stand in solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe in their hour
of need. Zimbabwe is a ticking time bomb and there is need to deal with the situation
before it deals with us. There should be solidarity with the people, not Zanu
PF or MDC. We must give peace a chance.” Newsday
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