OPPOSITION Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) has said dialogue with the Zanu PF-led government should remove illegitimacy on the Zimbabwean presidency which they say will be born out of a new election.
CCC deputy spokesperson Ostalos Siziba said this at a national dialogue held by Heal Zimbabwe Trust in Harare recently.
Siziba said President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s leadership does not reflect the will of the people.
“The reason why there must be a political settlement in Zimbabwe is because since 1980 Zimbabwe has been gripped by vicious cycles of disputed elections. Elections have left Zimbabwean society more divided than united because they are not being conducted in a manner prescribed for by the law of the country.
“Dialogue has to be a process that takes Zimbabwe back to the road to legitimacy. We must dialogue and converse to agree on a road map to go back into a fresh election because this current class of 2023 has no mandate of the people, has no mandate of the ordinary people,” said Siziba.
Zimbabwe is currently gripped by political uncertainty after the disputed August elections which granted Mnangagwa a second term at the helm of the country.
Chamisa, who garnered 44 percent of the vote, has described the elections as a “gigantic fraud” refusing to recognise Mnangagwa’s presidency.
The August plebiscite was widely condemned by foreign observer missions.
Peace broker and clergyman Father Fidelis Mukonori has since implored Chamisa and Mnangagwa to conduct a dialogue and charter a path forward.
Siziba further said dialogue should shift Zimbabwe from a pattern of disputed polls.
“Those with the mandate of the people have no means and those with the means have no mandate of the people. That is why Zimbabwe is suffering from what philosophers call a broken social contract. There is no relationship between those who govern and those who are being governed.
“That is why when they announced the gentleman who is occupying State House right now, Zimbabweans were almost mourning because they know that what was announced by ZEC is not the reflection of what they put on the ballot. Dialogue must be a dialogue to go back to the road of producing a leader that is born out of the will of the people,” said Siziba.
Source New Zimbabwe
