The Daily News was informed yesterday that when the main
opposition’s standing committee met virtually on Wednesday, a six-member
committee led by the party’s secretary-general and former deputy Labour
minister in the inclusive government, Paurina Mpariwa, was set up to examine
strategic options for the much-talked about national dialogue.
At the same time, MDC spokesperson Witness Dube has once
again reiterated the party’s commitment to inclusive national dialogue.
“Dialogue must be inclusive, genuine and unconditional. To
that end, a committee to look at the dialogue strategy, as well as the main
issues for the dialogue has been set up,” he said.
While Dube did not divulge the members of the committee, a
national standing committee member who had spoken to the Daily News earlier
said former Economic Planning minister and MDC treasurer general, Tapiwa
Mashakada; as well as his deputy Chief Ndlovu; deputy national chairperson
Giles Mutseyekwa and Masvingo senator Tichinani Mavetera are among the members
of the committee.
The Daily News is also reliably informed that the party’s
former interim leader, Thokozani Khupe — who has not yet officially taken up
her new role as the MDC’s vice president — is slated to be the committee’s
sixth member.
“Their mandate is to identify concessions that the party
intends to extract from the dialogue, not for itself only, but for the
generality of Zimbabweans, as well as those it is prepared to sacrifice inorder
to get what it wants.
“The committee will also examine specific issues upon which
the dialogue will be premised as well as the specific position of the party on
certain things.
“After it is done, the committee will report to the
president and ultimately to the national council before formally approaching
Zanu PF and other stakeholders,” the senior party official said.
Meanwhile, the dialogue committee members are set to be
officially announced tomorrow, after ratification by the MDC’s national
council.
This comes as many of Zimbabwe’s top clerics are scheduled
to meet next week, in a bid to help kick-start the much-talked about national
dialogue involving President Emmerson Mnangagwa, the opposition and other key
stakeholders.
Speaking to the Daily News on Wednesday, the executive
secretary of the Zimbabwe Heads of Christian Denominations (ZHOCD), Kenneth
Mtata, confirmed the planned meeting — which will also work out the modalities
for stakeholder negotiations.
This comes after Mnangagwa, Mwonzora and MDC Alliance
leader Nelson Chamisa recently signalled their preparedness to end Zimbabwe’s
toxic politics of the past two decades, in the interests of the country and its
long-suffering citizens.
Mtata said after their crucial meeting, the clerics
converging under the ZHOCD banner would also seek to involve the regional Sadc
bloc in a bid to nudge Mnangagwa and the opposition to work together.
“The Zimbabwe Heads of Christian Denominations executive is
meeting next week, on a date yet to be agreed on, and the issue of dialogue and
the possibility of engaging Sadc are high on the agenda in view of the
prevailing political climate in the country.
“The meeting will discuss how, as the Church, we can go
about ensuring that the talks become a reality, rather than mere talk.
“This is because the position of the Church has not changed
since we brought up this idea way back in 2016 … The challenges facing the
country can only be resolved through a broad-based national dialogue.
“While I cannot preempt what will come out before the
meeting has been held, we will have a definitive position next week after the
ZHOCD executive meeting,” Mtata told the Daily News.
ZHOCD is made up of the leaders of most of the influential
churches in the country, which include the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’
Conference (ZCBC), the Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC) and the Evangelical
Fellowship of Zimbabwe (EFZ).
On its part, the ZCBC said in addition to being part of
the ZHOCD initiative, it was also
working on a separate process to help thaw the frosty relations between
Mnangagwa and Chamisa — which stemmed from the disputed July 2018 presidential
election.
“We have been working on bridging the gap between President
Mnangagwa and Chamisa. We have, however, not been able to do much as of now
because of the Covid-19 pandemic and its attendant restrictions on meetings.
“Given this reality (the parties’ latest apparent
willingness to talk), we will probably have to ramp up our engagement through
online forums,” ZCBC secretary-general, Frederick Chiromba, told the Daily
News.
This comes after the outspoken leader of the Zimbabwe
Divine Destiny church, Bishop Ancelimo Magaya, exhorted his colleagues earlier
this week to utilise the thawing of relations between Mnangagwa and the
opposition to push for national dialogue.
“The fact that political parties are warming up to the idea
that no transition can be achieved without dialogue is welcome.
“Zimbabwe Heads of Christian Denominations has since last
year been pushing for dialogue and has even met some of the political leaders,
including President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
“While we have not been able to make headway in that
direction, I can confidently say that the Church, given the latest indications,
will be spurred into action and is going to take up the initiative through the
ZHOCD.
“We are sure this will succeed as long as there is
political will,” Magaya said.“We emphasise that the talks must, however, not be
limited to political players, but must include the people.
“We have had dialogues before involving Zanu and Zapu, MDC
and Zanu PF which had their successes, but were short-lived because they did
not involve the people … which are partly why we are here today,” he added.
Before this, analysts had suggested that the clergy would
most likely be acceptable as mediators for the talks, if the leaders of the
ruling Zanu PF and the MDC were not currently speaking in forked tongues on the
urgent need for dialogue.
University of Zimbabwe political scientist, Eldred
Masunungure, was among the analysts who told the Daily News earlier this week
that the Church needed to step in again to engage all key local stakeholders,
as well as Sadc to kick-start the talks.
“It is encouraging that the protagonists are showing signs
of willingness to engage. So, a combined effort of the Church and Sadc taking
the lead in bringing the relevant parties to sit down should see us through as
a country.
“The Church should initiate the talks because someone has
to take the lead in shepherding the dialogue.
“They must approach the protagonists, as well as the Sadc
region to set up the parameters for the talks, because on its own the Church
may not have the necessary gravitas to tackle political organisations.
“We only hope that Zanu PF and the two MDCs are not
speaking in forked tongues and have a genuine appetite for the talks,”
Masunungure told the Daily News.
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