Three political party leaders alleged to have made PDP leader Tendai Biti their chief negotiator, have dismissed the news report as false and misleading.
Below is their full statement:
The Renewal Democrats of Zimbabwe (RDZ), the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) and Zapu hereby advise their members and the general public that the story under the bylines of Elias Mambo and Wongai Zhangazha published by The Zimbabwe Independent (22 January 2016) stating that our respective parties agreed at a recent meeting to appoint the President of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Tendai Biti to be the chief negotiator for and on behalf of our parties with the yet to be formed People First is totally false and a complete fabrication in every respect without any factual foundation. No meeting of the parties mentioned in the story took place nor have the parties agreed on any engagement with People First let alone on the appointment of any person to represent them in such alleged engagement.
While we as progressive democratic parties recognize and accept the imperative of like-minded political parties who share the same values in words and deeds, to join forces in order to find common solutions to the challenges facing our people and save them from the suffering brought upon our nation by the ZANU PF regime we don’t believe that this purpose is in anyway served or advanced by the giving and publication of false stories.