ED, Chamisa plan collapses 

Source: ED, Chamisa plan collapses – DailyNews Live

Fungi Kwaramba      26 September 2018

HARARE – Prospects for dialogue between President Emmerson Mnangagwa and
MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa now hang by the thread in spite of
attempts by western power brokers to get them to smoke a peace pipe, the
Daily News can report.

Mnangagwa is presently under pressure to strike a deal with Chamisa to end
political tensions inflamed by the closely-fought July 30 plebiscite in
which the Zanu PF leader edged his nemesis by a razor-thin margin.

The European Union and Britain have particularly been linked to
behind-the-scenes manoeuvres to get Mnangagwa to recognise Chamisa as the
official opposition leader in order to placate the youthful politician who
is refusing to accept the poll outcome.

While Mnangagwa, who is currently in the United States – attending the
United Nations General Assembly in New York -has revealed that he is ready
to accept Chamisa as the official opposition leader, his rival has
rejected the arrangement, throwing the whole plan into disarray.

Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi had already indicated that once the two
leaders have hammered a deal, the country’s Constitution would need to be
amended to give Chamisa a role in the legislative assembly.

Following Mnangagwa’s pronouncements, Chamisa has come up with a plethora
of conditions he says the Zanu PF leader should first meet before any
engagements take place.

Describing Mnangagwa’s offer as mafia-style, and an attempt to buy him
with a few pieces of silver, Chamisa said his bitter rival must first
accept that he is an “illegitimate leader”.

The former student leader said, through his spokesperson Nkululeko
Sibanda, that he declines Mnangagwa’s offer as it is an attempt to bribe
him into accepting results of a “sham election”.

“He (Chamisa) despises the Mafia-coloured politics where the gang leader
thinks that all problems are solved by the parcelling of perks and
positions. Zimbabwe is bigger than people who believe that they can abuse
State coffers to corruptly buy the presidency they lost in an election.
This mentality is simply old school for our times it is unrecognisable in
this century,” said Sibanda.

Yesterday, Zanu PF responded by describing Chamisa as childish as
prospects for dialogue between the two parties fizzle out due to the
contentious issue of legitimacy.
Zanu PF secretary for legal affairs Paul Mangwana said Mnangagwa has gone
out of his way like a true statesman to engage his rival but they will not
force “crybabies” into negotiations.

“We can’t force them to behave to be normal people, the president will
continue to handle the situation like a true and mature statesman, it’s up
to them to behave as normal opposition or crybabies, our president is a
statesman, he is a leader, unfortunately we have that kind of opposition
who are sore losers but that will not stop the country from running, we
will not lose sleep over sore losers,” said Mangwana.

Political observers told the Daily News yesterday that Mnangagwa, who is
battling to revive the country’s economy through wooing investors to
Zimbabwe, must accommodate Chamisa otherwise his efforts to reengage the
world will fail.

Professor of World Politics at the London School of Oriental and African
Studies Stephen Chan said Mnangagwa should match his rhetoric with action.

“Everyone is also waiting for concrete results to emerge in his policies
that suggest he is serious in his fine words. This includes stabilising
the economy and relations with the International Monetary Fund, some sense
of capacity to deal with the cholera outbreak and, above all, achieving a
guaranteed space for the opposition to do its work of questioning and
opposing government policy at both the legislative and local levels,” said
Chan.

Crisis Coalition director Piers Pigou also said Mnangagwa is under
pressure to accommodate the opposition.

“Many eyes will be on Emmerson Mnangagwa, especially to hear how he
intends to build on the general commitments he had made with respect to
economic reform and addressing political polarisation,” said Pigou.