A Zim Morning Post report claims that the possibility of dialogue between President Emmerson Mnangagwa and opposition MDC leader Nelson Chamisa is now dead.
The report cites its sources who said that the two politicians have been communicating through emissaries and the stumbling block has been their egos.
While the duo has expressed willingness to talk, they have differed over the 2018 electoral dispute. On one hand, a senior ZANU PF official reportedly said:
President (Mnangagwa) wants Chamisa to admit that he lost the 2018 plebiscite and dialogue will kick start from there but he is hitting the wall.
Mnangagwa was declared the winner of the 2018 polls not only by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) but also by the Constitutional court after Chamisa challenged the result.
From the Concourt Chamisa has nowhere else to appeal and that should be the take-off point for any dialogue to take place.
On the other hand, sources close to Chamisa said that the electoral dispute is the genesis of the problem and cannot be sidestepped;
Chamisa’s starting point is the issue of the electoral dispute. As the MDC we believe we won the elections so that’s our starting point.
How do we resolve the stalemate without discussing the genesis of the problem?
Chamisa believes the problems we are facing as a country are emanating from a political dispute and what Zimbabwe needs is a political solution.
The opposition leader has hitherto refused to take part in the Mnangagwa-initiated Political Actors Dialogue (POLAD), a platform where little-known political candidates in the 2018 general election gather routinely.