Staff Reporter|President Emmerson Mnangagwa has committed that he will create a parliamentary position for the leader of the biggest opposition party as is the norm with the commonwealth countries.

Mnangagwa made the commitment which he has previously hinted on while speaking in a wide ranging interview with United States television network Bloomberg on Friday evening.

“We are going to introduce the office of the leader of the opposition in Parliament,” said Mnangagwa.

“This is what we are going to do ourselves but under the former administration (Robert Mugabe’s) there was no formal recognition of the leader of the opposition.

“Under my administration we are embracing the Commonwealth approach where we recognise the leader of the opposition.”

However, early indications from leader of the country’s biggest opposition the MDC Alliance coalition Nelson Chamisa, are that the opposition party is not going to accept the offer as they insist that Mnangagwa cheated himself into power in the July 30 elections.

Chamisa approached the Constitutional Court challenging the result and arguing that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) had connived with Zanu PF to rig the poll in Mnangagwa’s favour against him.

The opposition leader’s spokesman Nkululeko Sibanda said Chamisa wants Mnangagwa to return the country to “legitimacy”, meaning recognising the MDC Alliance leader as winner.

“Our president is worried about the people’s welfare. The party and president Chamisa are not worried about creating new position but a return to legitimacy because the people voted for their leader but were cheated.

“We want the implementation of the people’s five point plan that includes a return to legitimacy, a clear economic rescue plan among others,” said Sibanda.

President Mnangagwa is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly where he has been holding high profile interviews with media houses on the sidelines of the general assembly.