President Emmerson Mnangagwa made a veiled dig at opposition MDC president Nelson Chamisa for spurning an offer to become the country’s leader of the opposition.
In an interview with ZBC news ahead of the 39th Independence Anniversary celebrations, Mnangagwa said that he wanted to accord Chamisa status and recognition, but he rejected it choosing to earn it by himself. He said:
A prosperous Zimbabwe we want. This is why I initially had proposed that whoever is the leader of the opposition whether you are in Parliament or outside it we should make provision so that such a leader is recognised as an official leader of Government or Parliament so that he is given status. This is found in the Commonwealth parliamentary system, but we do not have it in Zimbabwe.
But I said that those who could have benefited from that felt that they didn’t want to be spoon-fed, they must get things for themselves, we say yeah very good. So if you want to be given recognition and you want to earn it by yourself it is okay.
The fact that you become the official leader of the opposition is a recognition that you have some share in the electoral system which is significant and you need to be recognised. But that was denied.
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