MDC leader Mr Nelson Chamisa should accept that he was defeated by President Mnangagwa during the 2018 Presidential elections and embrace the inclusive Political Actors Dialogue (Polad) platform, chairman of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association, Ambassador Chris Mutsvangwa has said.
Ambassador Mutsvangwa urged Mr Chamisa to swallow his pride and desist from seeking exceptional inclusiveness through bilateral talks with the Head of State and Government.
Responding to a story published on a discredited online publication alleging that the war veteran leader met Mr Chamisa, Cde Mutsvangwa said the online publication was hell bent on makiing a meal out of an inconvenient chance encounter at an airport departure lounge.
He said in terms of the law, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and the Constitutional Court are the two sacrosanct institutions that can confer electoral legitimacy.
“Nelson Chamisa cannot have his cake and eat it at the same time,” said Ambassador Mutsvangwa. He seeks exceptional inclusiveness that is akin to squaring the circle.
“His record since the 2018 harmonised elections paints him as a rejectionist.
“He refuses the verdict of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and the Constitutional Court, the two sacrosanct institutions of conferring electoral legitimacy.
“He instead seeks legitimacy from the President of the Republic who has no locus standi on this electoral issue. President Mnangagwa was just another contesting candidate in the 2018 harmonised elections.”
Last week, Mr Chamisa was in South Africa where he was reportedly soliciting Sadc’s intervention in Zimbabwe’s domestic affairs.
His efforts, however, came to naught as no senior South African government official obliged to meet him.
Ambassador Mutsvangwa said Mr Chamisa will find no joy in his pursuit of reversing his crushing electoral defeat because Sadc does not acquiesce to interfering in domestic matters.
“Sadc will not set a precedent whereby competent constitutional bodies are countermanded by opposition parties sulking from electoral loss.
“This is a sure recipe for anarchy.
“I appeal to him to do the right thing first — recognise the full and undivided outcome of the 2018 harmonised elections.
“Chamisa has finally discovered Sadc as a diplomatic force worthy of attention. In the past, his favourites were Washington, London, Brussels, etcetera.
“The Sadc Summit anti-sanctions resolution jolted Chamisa into realising that Zimbabwe’s future lies with the unshakable solidarity of its neighbours.
-State media