3. Redefining National Politics
3.1 My meeting with President Emmerson Mnangagwa
In the spirit of national building and promoting constructive dialogue in the quest to find solutions to national challenges, I have written to President Emmerson Mnangagwa requesting a meeting with him.
I have written to him with the aim of defining and framing the parameters and contours of a national discourse in our country’s politics.
It is important to eliminate insults, animosity and hatred in our national politics. We need neopolitics; the politics of ideas, solutions, policies and national strategies to develop Zimbabwe.
I am yet to hear from President Mnangagwa on the exact dates that we will meet.
The MDC is a partner in national development and not a threat. Being on opposing political sides is not enemity but just an expression of the reality of diverse views. After all, it is diversity that makes a nation because diversity strengthens and does not weaken.
In that context, national holidays and national events should be inclusive and not be dominated by a single political party. Programmes must involve all the stakeholders including the official opposition.
In that regard, I will be initiating a courtesy call by the official opposition on government.
3.2 The national Independence in context
On the 18th of April, the country will be celebrating the country’s independence.
This is the time to pay veneration to our hard-won independence and how the patriotic sons and daughters of this land fought a tenacious liberation struggle to rid the country of racism and colonial rule.
This is the time to seriously reflect on whether as a country we should have a national dress as this would be the fitting occasion to adorn an agreed national dress.
In the new Zimbabwe, the celebration of our hard-won independence will not be a one-day event.
We will introduce an independence month of celebration whose key signpost will include festivities, discussions, seminars, lecture series as well as national tours to important national sites.
While the 18th of April will remain the day for the main event, we have declared April as an independence month to be marked by separate related activities that bestow honour to the sons and daughters of this land—departed or living—with some of them still serving in the country’s institutions such as the army, the police force and the rests of the civil service.
An independent people must think independently. Let it be truly a new dispensation. If we are open for business, we must be open for new and good politics for the merriment of all Zimbabweans.
At a personal level, I will be engaging in a plethora of activities to honour and commemorate our independence day.
One Zimbabwe, one people.
One Zimbabwe, one future.
One Zimbabwe, one vision.
Behold the new.
God bless Zimbabwe.
God bless Africa
Advocate Nelson Chamisa is the MDC President and the MDC Alliance Presidential candidate.
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