Unity, dialogue the way to go for Zim

The recent call by outgoing United Kingdom envoy to Zimbabwe Catriona Laing on the importance of unity so as to ensure the success of efforts to turn around the southern African nation’s economic fortunes must be supported by all right-thinking citizens.

Following the July 30 harmonised elections in the country, MDC Alliance president Nelson Chamisa lost to Zanu PF’s Emmerson Mnangagwa but both candidates polled over two million votes apiece, making this one of the most tightly-contetsed presidential polls in Zimbabwe since 1980.

Chamisa went on to lodge a Constitutional Court (Con-Court) challenge to contest Mnangagwa’s victory but lost. The Con-Court’s decision is final.

However, conditions on the ground have worsened with prices of basic commodities shooting up as shortages began to loom, underlining the urgency needed in solving Zimbabwe’s problems.

The world over, the politics of inclusivity has produced amazing results for concerned nation states as it results in a meeting of minds and diverse views in addressing problems affecting the country.

Laing’s advice has to be taken seriously although any debate towards working together must also be sincere and open between the country’s major political players.

Zimbabweans have endured misery and poverty for decades now and cash shortages and unemployment are among many other struggles they are going through.

If dialogue aimed at working together to bring sanity to the moribund economy is the panacea to the country’s problems, then so be it. Results are what the country needs and continued bickering that will further impoverish Zimbabweans is not required at this juncture. Squabbles and disagreements will not move the country forward and the earlier the Executive realises this, then the better.

There is no reason why people should continue to trudge a path which seeks to please the elite and their cronies while ordinary citizens wallow in abject poverty.

The fact that Chamisa has called for dialogue in an effort to repair the current economic and political mayhem is encouraging. We hear, through Zanu PF’s legal affairs department, that Mnangagwa is also open for dialogue but that this is not happening on the ground is worrying.

The country needs this so badly. And urgently too. Zimbabwe’s economy can not be allowed to deteriorate any further, especially if it is for reasons of political expediency.

Zimbabwe simply has to move forward now. DailyNews