Former Finance Minister who is also the vice president of the opposition MDC led by advocate Nelson Chamisa has said that his party will engage in an insincere dialogue with President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
He said that although his party stated in its Road to Economic Recovery, Legitimacy, Openness And Democracy (RELOAD) the importance of dialogue in solving the country’s problems, dialogue has to be genuine. Posting on microblogging site, Twitter, Biti said:
Our acceptance of dialogue in #RELOAD is a matter of principle. But one which we recognizes that genuine structural reforms should be the pivot. We can not be a party to another #ZANU rescue mission. The citizen wants genuine reforms, not a feeding scheme that papers over the cracks.
Biti’s remarks come as calls for a dialogue between Mnangagwa and Chamisa have intensified lately. His party says Mnangagwa is not a legitimate president hence to have his legitimacy on the dialogue agenda. The MDC also demands a foreign convenor who has an African Union and United Nations mandate.
Meanwhile, Mnangagwa who has since initiated the POLAD which houses two dozens of losing 2018 elections presidential candidates says that he is open for dialogue with every stakeholder but his legitimacy is indisputable since he won the 2018 elections.
Some analysts give the MDC credit for stabilising the economy during the Government of National Unity of 2009 era. The GNU was formed following the collapse of the economy in 2008 with hyperinflation reaching a 231 million per cent record high.
More: Tendai Biti