"Government Simply Needs Confrontation, Not Dialogue" - Komichi
Opposition MDC-Alliance chairperson Morgen Komichi has said the government only needs confrontation, not dialogue, for it to respond to address national issues.
His remarks are in contradiction with those of Douglas Mwonzora who leads the MDC-Alliance party who believes that dialogue is the key to solving the prevailing crises.
Speaking on Alpha Media Holdings’ Heart and Soul television (HStv)’s current affairs programme at the weekend, Komichi said President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government had shown a lack of desire to engage in meaningful dialogue with opposition party leaders. NewsDay Zimbabwe quotes him as saying:
As we speak right now the government doesn’t want anything to do with dialoguing. People have talked about dialogue and the government has not been forthcoming, the government simply needs confrontation, the opposition people should just stand up and demand what the government should do. The moment you start putting issues of dialogue, the government laughs at you, because like now how can we, as Zimbabweans, allow the government to go for 10 years without implementing important parts of our Constitution like devolution?
After he was voted the MDC-T president in 2020, Mwonzora met Mnangagwa at State House and gave him a dialogue proposal document, which suggested that by-elections must be put on hold in order to promote talks outside the Political Actors Dialogue (POLAD) platform.
Mnangagwa ignored the proposal insisting that talks will only take place within the POLAD platform he initiated in 2019 for the 2018 presidential candidates to dialogue in an endeavour to address the socio-economic and political crises bedevilling Zimbabwe.
Nelson Chamisa who now leads the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) refused to join POLAD saying it was meant to legitimise Mnangagwa’s rule.
Meanwhile, Komichi called on opposition forces to join hands and confront the government to force it to respect the country’s Constitution.
