Yesterday Gambakwe Media spoke to MDC National Spokesman, Daniel Molokele and asked him if Nelson Chamisa was going to accept the invitation by ED Mnangagwa during his SONA to be part of POLAD.
Mr Molokele said, emphatically, NO!
Similarly MDC National Chair Thabitha Khumalo and Vice Chair Job Sikhala have publicly rejected the POLAD Dialogue at different forums.
While the reasons for declining the POLAD invitation are understandable, we believe the timing is wrong for a number of reasons :
1. The situation in the country has reached unimaginable levels. Everything has collapsed and the Humanitarian cost is too high. This especially true in the Hospitals.
2. There is no prospect of mass uprising in Zimbabwe as the general populace is too docile. Previous attempts to organize demonstrations have been met with disproportionate force.
3. There is now a real danger of a military take over. The situation we are heading to will result in the general populace accepting any change, even a military led change. This will almost Cement the military into the politics of Zimbabwe.
How Should Nelson Chamisa Proceed?
There is need for a strategic retreat from Nelson Chamisa.
While Nelson Chamisa Can not sit in POLAD with the small parties, I think there are three critical things he needs to do.
– He needs to produce a position paper on Dialogue. This is an urgent task, what are his expectation before, during and after the Dialogue. This will include the issue of mediation.
– He needs to nominate a negotiation team that will engage the parties already in POLAD.
– He needs to communicate better on the preferred Transitional arrangement to MDC members so that they are not caught by surprise in future.
