Chamisa, Mnangagwa trade barbs

Opposition leader Nelson Chamisa has blasted President Emmerson Mnangagwa saying he is the chief culprit in causing violence against innocent Zimbabweans.

Mnangagwa blamed the opposition for the violent demonstrations.

Chamisa on Monday said President Emmerson Mnangagwa is "more rabid than Robert Mugabe at his worst."

Chamisa spoke outside the Harare Magistrates Court where the MDC's Harare East MP had had just avoided jail after a magistrate fined him $200 for "unofficial and false declaration of results" in July last year.

Biti had told a news conference on July 31, a day after voting, that the MDC had received results of the 2018 election and "the results show beyond reasonable doubt that we have won this election and that the next President of Zimbabwe is Advocate Nelson Chamisa."

The MDC says Biti, who is appealing the conviction, is being persecuted by Mnangagwa's government which the party maintains is illegitimate, claiming the last elections were rigged.

Chamisa said threats made by Mnangagwa at a rally in Mwenezi last Saturday, where he vowed to pursue lawyers who represented victims of an army crackdown that followed fuel protests last month showed the government's disdain for justice.

"We're excited to have here our pillar in the movement who is being targeted, persecuted on the simple account that he's telling the truth about what happened on July 30," Chamisa told reporters.

"We are also aware of the targeting of many of our leaders across the country, of lawyers and doctors which is quite disturbing because. Even Mugabe at his worst was not this rabid. We never saw attacks and persecution of lawyers and doctors."

Biti, who will speak at a news conference on Thursday after a ban imposed at the start of his trial lapsed with the end of his trial, said he was "a symptom of a bigger challenges affecting the country."
"It's critical for president Chamisa and everyone in leadership to protect the people against Mnangagwa," he said.

Chamisa said politics was "contaminating Zimbabwe's justice system in a manner which is not consistent with a democratic society."

The MDC leader called on SADC leaders to speak up against a breakdown of the rule of law in Zimbabwe. He said power was slipping from Mnangagwa, who took over from Mugabe in a November 2017 military coup, and the Zanu-PF strongman had resorted to brutalising citizens.

"What you are seeing are telltale signs of the end. This is the end and centre can no longer hold. Mr Mnangagwa's constellation is crumbling like a deck of cards. That's why you see in their desperation they want to be at war with the citizens and with everyone including lawyers, vendors and doctors. They're literally at war with every section of the society. That tells you the end is nigh," Chamisa said.

He maintained that the MDC would not enter any dialogue with Zanu-PF and Mnangagwa "that is conditional upon macho tactics, terror tactics and Stone Age tactics."

"We don't go into dialogue out of force. We go into dialogue out of conviction that we need to have peace in this country, progress and prosperity in this country. We have answers, they have the problems and we have said please let's come together as a people to provide answers," Chamisa said.

"People are suffering, they are jobless; the economy is not performing, prices are sky rocketing and challenges are rising by the day. We don't want politics, we want answers to the people's problems."

The MDC snubbed an invitation extended by Mnangagwa on February 6 to attend talks at State House with all the other political parties and presidential candidates. The party wants the army withdrawn from the streets; its supporters held following last month's fuel protests released and the talks mediated by an impartial third party.

Chamisa will address a rally in Gweru this weekend.