The Zimbabwean government said a dialogue platform is already in place in the form of the Political Actors Dialogue (POLAD), therefore, there is no place for a parallel arrangement for political actors.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Ndavaningi Mangwana, said there won’t be dialogue for a powersharing arrangement as there is no provision for that in the national constitution.
Mangwana told political players, civic society organisations and churches to wait for elections in 2023 and allow President Emmerson Mnangagwa to fulfil his mandate in the meantime. He said:
There is a platform for dialogue already. Everyone else came to that platform, there is only one political party that didn’t come for dialogue.
President Mnangagwa has no problem with dialogue (and) that is why there is POLAD. There is nothing sinister about dialogue as long as people don’t think that dialogue is a power-sharing platform. Dialogue is about Zimbabweans speaking to one another, charting a course for their country.
The issue of a power-sharing arrangement is not on the table as that is unconstitutional. Our Constitution is very clear. There is no room for such an animal, after the elections. We can only wait for 2023.
The issue of who will govern this nation, that matter was settled in 2018. So that is not going to be a negotiated thing because that is a settled issue.
If there is anything to talk about as to find out what is best for our country, Zimbabweans should talk to one another, but when it comes to political actors, the platform is there already.