MDC Alliance vice-president Tendai Biti told NewsDay that
they were ready for talks with Mnangagwa, whom they accuse of stealing the 2018
elections as calls for dialogue between the country’s main political parties
gather momentum.
“We are prepared to talk to them without any
conditionality, we haven’t said Emmerson Mnangagwa must cease to be President
before we talk to him, we haven’t said that, but having said that, no one can
seduce us to accept a lie and accept processes that were against our Constitution,”
Biti said.
“The coup of November 2017 and the election of 2018 is
fact, but that is not a roadblock to dialogue, and we are ready for dialogue
with our friends and compatriots at Zanu PF, because the people of Zimbabwe out
there demand that,” he said.
He, however, said his party would not entertain any talks
with the MDC-T led by Mwonzora. “Mwonzora is a creation of Zanu PF, so why
should we talk to him? It’s better to talk directly with the power behind him,”
he added.
Talks between Zanu PF and the MDC Alliance hit a snag after
the opposition queried Mnangagwa’s legitimacy following a highly-contested
Presidential result in 2018. Mnangagwa has insisted that he will only talk with
Chamisa if his presidency was not in question.
On the other hand, Chamisa has not recognised Mnanagwa’s
Presidency and his MPs have reacted by not standing up in honour of the
President whenever he walks into Parliament.
They have also fiercely heckled Mnangagwa, or walked out on
him each time he came to address Parliament.
Chamisa has come under fire for lacking decisive leadership
and a strategic plan to extricate Zimbabwe from the current challenges.
Biti said while the MDC Alliance maintained its stance
against Mnangagwa, talks could resume, adding that the party would not resort
to violence.
“We will not accept a situation where the agenda of our
struggle is set by players outside the people of Zimbabwe, let the people of
Zimbabwe set the agenda. We have balanced and walked a delicate balance between
unleashing our people against a deranged psychotic regime that will create a
situation that will leave 4 000 to 5 000 people dead,” he said.
“We saw what happened on August 1, 2018. We saw what they
did in January of 2019, and so we are going to balance the need to confront and
the need to preserve human life.”
Biti said his party would provide leadership and push for
change ahead of the 2023 general elections, adding that the centre of the
struggle should be the people of Zimbabwe.
“The people of Zimbabwe must know that they are the agency
of the change that is required in Zimbabwe, none but ourselves are our own
liberators. We have to rise to the occasion, we have to rise to the subjective
imperious, that the situation requires, we have to confront this regime. In
doing so, I am not calling for violence, we don’t believe in violence, but
something must shift, this country is abnormal,” he said.
The former Finance minister said his party was keen to
attain democratic change in the country through peaceful means, adding that
only talks would resolve the crisis in the country.
“This crisis has been going on for too long. This crisis is
affecting generations, and so we need a new disruptive consensus to turn our
country out of the morass that has put it into underdevelopment, corruption and
conflict. We need to put it into a new path of development, and inclusivity,”
Biti said
Zanu PF party spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo said the ruling
party was prepared to engage the MDC Alliance as long as the dialogue was held
under the banner of the Political Actors Dialogue (Polad).
Polad is a grouping of fringe parties which participated
and lost in the 2018 plebiscite whose results the MDC Alliance disputed,
accusing Mnangagwa of stealing the election.
“Isn’t there is a platform which was created for dialogue?
Why would they want to meet us separately? Are they a special breed? They are a
party in opposition and they should come as a group with other opposition
parties. If we are to entertain every opposition party individually, how many
are they, and how many meetings are we going to hold? They should explain why
they don’t want to come to meet us at Polad, we need to hear that. But yes, we
are ready to meet them as long as they come to Polad.
“The economy and the COVID-19 fight should take centre
stage. We should not expend time on wayward politics, but focus on production
and food security.
There must be a total war against this pandemic because it
doesn’t choose which party one belongs to,” Moyo said.
“These other talks should find their own time. The key
thing as Zanu PF is concentrating on production since the rains are upon us and
fighting COVID-19. Let us, as a nation, unite and focus on urgent matters.
These two are really urgent. The political war was won in 1980 and it’s now
politics of the stomach so as to make sure that our people are food secure.”
He also urged the MDC Alliance to come on board to fight
what he termed the “economic war” facing the country, as well as the COVID-19
pandemic, which he said were the urgent matters that needed to be resolved,
rather than politics.
MDC-T deputy party spokesperson Khaliphani Phugeni said:
“As you know, we are the MDC-T, a party in opposition with current Members of
Parliament in the august House, and with a programme of action. We are readying
ourselves for by-elections and I think Zanu PF will also field its own
candidates. As for Biti’s comments, nothing can be further than the truth. He
is politicking.” Newsday
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