Following yesterday’s revelations by CCC President, Nelson Chamisa, that he has approached Mnangagwa on multiple occasions seeking dialogue. Gambakwe reveals the secret dialogue that failed to kick off between Chamisa and Mnangagwa.
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1. Soon after the elections, there were various attempts made to kick start dialogue between Chamisa and Mnangagwa.
2. Chamisa preferred dialogue as he did not want people to go through more suffering.
3. In Mid September, a senior member of the CCC advised me that Chamisa was willing to enter into dialogue with Mnangagwa.
4. I approached someone that I know in ZANU-PF and let them know.
5. They said they would go to Mnangagwa’s office and communicate this. He was told that Chamisa should assembled a team and ZANU-PF would assemble a team of the same level to mick start the discussions.
6. A few days later I got a call from a senior ZANU-PF leader.
7. He advised me that ZANU-PF was open to a dialogue but would not discuss issues of legitimacy and rigging.
8. He also advised me that a number of CCC leaders had already been to ZANU-PF with proposals for talks but most of them clearly had no mandate.
9. I advised my contact in the CCC of the ZANU-PF requirements and asked him to arrange a one on one meeting between me and Chamisa so that we can confirm that indeed Chamisa was agreeable to the plan.
10. After a few days I was advised talk to one of the CCC spokesman. He said I could not talk directly to Chamisa on this issue and gave me the number of Chamisa’s representative.
11. I called the representatives and he did not respond to my request for a meeting.
12. I went back to the CCC leaders that I was talking to and they gave me Timba and Gladys Hlatshwayo’s numbers.
13. I contacted both Hlatshwayo and Timba and they did not respond.
14. I advised the ZANU-PF guys that CCC had not provided a team.
15. ZANU-PF said they already knew that this is what was going to happen.
16. The rest of the CCC guys did not seem to know that Chamisa’s representative had not communicated back to me.
17. The next time dialogue was mentioned was by Mutsvangwa during his press conference.
Stakeholders
1. International representatives felt that Chamisa was being unprincipled by seeking dialogue with Mnangagwa.
2. Supporters are divided as they do not understand the rationale. Dialogue needs to be sold.
3. Chamisa needs to assemble a strong negotiating team to avoid being overrun by ED.
Conclusion
1. There is a fundamental difference in how Chamisa and Mnangagwa see dialogue and the outcomes.
2. Dialogue is essential. Mnangagwa and ED ‘s offices are less than 50m apart.
3. Chamisa is looking for a high level dialogue, while Mnangagwa is looking for a low level dialogue.
4. Mnangagwa is responsible for kickstarting the dialogue
5. Chamisa needs to negotiate through a SADC process.
6. Dialogue should be funded through government funds or through international support.
News update
1. CCC appeals to the Supreme court
2. PAP new President fires Charumbira appointees. The appointees have written to the AU.
3. Jacob Mafume still Harare Mayor.
