Tinashe Sambiri|The chaos at Beitbridge Border Post is a manifestation of the longstanding governance crisis in Zimbabwe, the MDC Alliance has said.

The MDC Alliance has cited the legitimacy crisis in the country as the main reason for the economic quagmire.The MDC Alliance insists Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa stole the 2018 Presidential plebiscite.

Read statement below:

BEITBRIDGE BORDER CRISIS :A MANIFESTATION OF
LONGSTANDING GOVERNANCE CRISIS

The forced migration crisis at Beitbridge border post is a manifestation of a
longstanding crisis of governance in Zimbabwe. While people move from
country to country throughout the world, the Zimbabwe-South Africa migration
is driven largely by chronic unemployment and increasing poverty in Zimbabwe
which is directly connected to the failure of political governance.

This crisis of governance emanates from flawed electoral processes that have
resulted in performance illegitimacy and sheer incompetence by a regime that is
pre-occupied with corruption and elite accumulation.

Zimbabweans would not
have to flood the border as they did returning home for the festive season or
returning to South Africa afterwards if the economy was offering them more
opportunities.

This is why the huge transnational flows of people between South Africa are
made up almost exclusively of Zimbabweans.

This one-way traffic is a reminder
that the problem is on our side of the border and unless this is resolved, it will
escalate in thec oming years.

Our founding leader, Dr Morgan Tsvangirai, famously said that Zimbabwe is not
just a foreign policy issue for South Africa. It is a domestic challenge.

The regime in Harare has so far
resisted any help to resolve the political crisis.

Resultantly, South Africa has had
to take the pressure off our citizens who are fleeing state-engineered poverty.

The situation at Beitbridge border is compounded by the fact that we are in the
middle of a deadly second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The crowds
gathered there seeking passage to South Africa make a mockery of the rules
against public gathering, social distancing and cleanliness.

There are legitimate
fears that such gatherings are super-spreaders of the virus which is a hazard to
communities both in Zimbabwe and South Africa.

We implore authorities to take urgent steps to resolve the crisis at the border
post.

However, as we have stated, to focus only on the situation at
Beitbridge
would be to merely deal with symptoms of a bigger problem.That bigger
problem is the crisis of governance underwritten by a political process that is
contaminated by illegitimacy.
It is very important to attend to the bigger problem otherwise the situation at
Beitbridge will be repeated and it will be worse the next time around.

Fadzayi Mahere
National Spokesperson
+263774751446
44 Nelson Mandela Avenue
Harare, Zimbabwe
[email protected]