President Emmerson Mnangagwa has poured sand on MDC leader Nelson Chamisa’s proposal to rope in a foreign interlocutor to mediate in talks between the two political leaders raising concerns if the 76-year old politician is serious about the need for dialogue.

Chamisa is currently on a diplomatic offensive to regional countries, drumming up support for an internationally-backed mediator to break the country’s political logjam.

This came after Mnangagwa initiated talks involving all the candidates that participated in the July 30 presidential polls in an attempt to end the politi-cal discord that many believe could be contributing to the crisis ravaging the Zimbabwean economy.

Yesterday, presidential spokesperson George Charamba dismissed Chamisa’s effort, say-ing the MDC leader should see the light and join those who are already in talks.

“The solution is within the country and not outside. The problem is that he (Chamisa) is not part of the national dialogue. No solution will be found out-side the country,” said Charamba, who is also the deputy chief secretary to the president.

While Mnangagwa has been persistent with his version of national dialogue, the initiative has struggled to gain traction.

Chamisa was the first to throw spanners into the works after he declined an invitation to participate in the talks saying they were conditions which had to be met before dialoguing.

One of the conditions was that Mnangagwa must accept that he does not have the legitimacy to govern following the disputed July 30, 2018 election results. More people have since abandoned the national dialogue, accusing the Zanu PF leader of being insincere.

On Tuesday, another losing presidential candidate also poured scorn on the talks saying they are just meant to hoodwink the world into believing that par-ties in Zimbabwe acquiesce to his contested legitimacy.

Violet Mariyacha, leader of the United Democracy Move-ment, said the talks were not inclusive as they have been snubbed by other key actors.

“There is no serious discussion of why the country is in this current economic meltdown; why has Zimbabwe failed to attract foreign investments and what or where are the billion dollars that Zimbabwe told so and so are bringing the country from the Zimbabwe is Open for Business.

“This shows that ti dent is more conceme his legitimacy and ren sanctions,” she said.

-Daily News