Chamisa says Mnangagwa is desperate to talk to him

Last week, the Johannesburg metro police said almost 3 000 Zimbabweans had been arrested for serious crimes between 2016 and 2019. The next largest group of foreigners arrested 1 382 were Mozambicans.

“Our people are scattered all over. It’s not their will, they are refugees running away from suffering at home,” said Chamisa.

“SA and Botswana, by virtue of being the vibrant economies in the region, are affected. If SADC tackles the political impasse in Zimbabwe it will also help stabilise the region.”

Political analyst Zama Mkhwananzi said he was sceptical that Mbeki alone could broker a political deal.

“His quiet diplomacy during the Mugabe era didn’t help, but kept Mugabe running the show,” he said.

“If Chamisa gives in and admits losing the highly disputed and controversial polls, Mnangagwa will freely go to the negotiation table as the bigger man. It’s all about bargaining and power retention.

“It actually gave him [Mugabe] more time. If he uses the same approach it would simply give Mnangagwa more time and before we know it, it’s going to be the 2023 election and the problems of 2018 won’t be solved.”

On 1 August 2018, soldiers opened fire on protesters in the aftermath of the elections, killing at least six and injuring scores more. This sparked a worldwide outcry and the MDC Alliance challenged the election result in court.

The court challenge was lost, but the crackdown tarnished Mnangagwa’s legitimacy and cost him the international goodwill he had accrued by toppling Mugabe the previous November.

Mnangagwa brought together a group of defeated presidential candidates in the Political Actors Dialogue (Polad), but Chamisa snubbed it as a “talk show of nonentities”.

ZANU-PF’s political commissar, Victor Matemadanda, said this week there would be no political discussions outside Polad.- TimesLive

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