Own Correspondent| The MDC Alliance led by Nelson Chamisa is planning fresh protests to push President Emmerson Mnangagwa to the negotiating table, as it also pins its hopes on SADC intervention.
The fresh call to protest was made by Organising Secretary, Amos Chibaya, “The rogue regime is taking us down the garden path by promises of a better Zimbabwe. On November 17, 2017, we jumped from a frying pan into the fire after the coup. It is now time to pour into the streets and send a clear message to the dictator that enough is enough.”
Chibaya made the call as party Secretary for International Relations, Gladys Hlatshwayo, told the local daily Newsday, that the opposition party had reached consensus with the regional body SADC, at two levels, the first being that Zimbabwe is in a crisis, the second that political dialogue is the only way forward.
Hlatshwayo explains that the party has had fruitful engagements with SADC executive secretary Stergomena Lawrence Tax and her team, “We are glad because we were able to share our views with Tax and we shall continue to do so. We shall be intensifying our regional offensive and selling our narrative. We are also encouraged by the voices that are emerging from within Sadc, including the recent remarks by South Africa Foreign Affairs minister Naledi Pandor that there is need to deal with economic and political angles of the Zimbabwean crisis simultaneously.”
She goes further to explain how the SADC region is awakening to the real plight of Zimbabweans, as she dismissed internal processes to facilitate dialogue with Mnangagwa, “The credibility and integrity of the political dialogue hinges on the integrity of the mediator and the extent to which he/she is seen as a neutral broker. We are all aware of how our institutions in Zimbabwe are captured by the Executive and, therefore, defeating the idea of a neutral facilitator and a credible dialogue.”
On SADC intervention, Hlatshwayo says, “The Sadc Protocol on Politics, Defence and Security article 11b allows Sadc to intervene in intra-conflicts of member States in cases of gross human rights violations and violence, as well as conflicts that threaten peace and security in the region. Sadc should utilise its early warning system to be proactive on Zimbabwe as opposed to wait for the situation to further deteriorate.”