Chamisa admits Mnangagwa, Tsvangirai talks

MDC-T vice-president Advocate Nelson Chamisa on Wednesday revealed that his boss, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, approached the new administration led by President Emmerson Mnangagwa pushing for an inclusive government.

Adv Chamisa said they had to go to the United States last week under an MDC-Alliance banner after realising the idea of an inclusive government had collapsed and they had to gear up for an election.

He said this during a press conference attended by MDC-Alliance representatives where they sought to justify why they flew to the US where they called for the retention of ruinous sanctions against Zimbabwe.

The admission also exposes Mr Tsvangirai, who claimed there was never a discussion between him and President Mnangagwa in which the Head of State and Government tried to woo opposition parties to join his Cabinet.

Special Adviser to President Mnangagwa, Christopher Mutsvangwa said Mr Tsvangirai blocked President Mnangagwa from choosing his preferred candidates for posts, as the opposition leader insisted that he should be included in the Presidium.

At the press conference, Adv Chamisa admitted that a discussion was held, but blamed Government for the collapse of the talks.

"We realise and acknowledge that there has been a deliberate attempt to distort the reality as pertaining to what transpired," he said.

"We had a position as an alliance which position was that we were supposed to have an inclusive arrangement, a transnational mechanism so that we prepare for free and fair election.

"And president Tsvangirai as a democrat, as a national leader, as a statesman went out of his way to make sure that he kick-starts the process, but unfortunately there were no takers of this inclusive arrangement.

"Government intended then to portray MDC-T as a spoiler."

Adv Chamisa accused the Government of being arrogant.

"They don't appreciate that building a country is not a partisan effort, it is a collective effort," he said. "And this is where they are missing it, this is where they want to malign president Tsvangirai.

"Now we are waiting for election, this is why we had to go for a diplomatic offensive to talk to our people as you would see in our rallies, we are now articulating the alternative that we are. We are not going to waste time because we are not an inclusive government, we do not do public relations for a government."

In its denial, MDC-T claimed that Mr Tsvangirai was never approached formally or informally about the inclusive government.

Speaking at the same event, MDC Alliance representative, Mr Tendai Biti said they had no apologies to make over their utterances in the US, where they reportedly called for the retention of sanctions.

"We do not apologise for putting the interests of our country first, we do not apologise for representing Zimbabweans," he said. "We are a serious opposition, we have been in the trenches for years. We have scars to prove it. We are as patriotic as the next patriot. Our record speaks for itself."

Analysts said it was pure propaganda for Mr Biti to allege that they had the interest of the people at heart, when they were prepared to travel all the way to the US to call for the extension of illegal sanctions that have resulted in the suffering of ordinary people.

The contradiction, the analysts said, was glaring at the press conference where the MDC-T officials purported to speak for the people, when their actions indicated they wanted them to suffer in a bid to force them to vote for the opposition party.

Sanctions are widely credited for the closure of industries and other economic woes that befell Zimbabwe in the past decade.

The press conference was also attended by MDC leader Professor Welshman Ncube and representatives of other opposition political parties.