Chamisa warns that Zimbabwe faces a bleak future unless he is President

OPPOSITION MDC leader Nelson Chamisa has warned that the country faces a bleak future, which could end in turmoil if the current economic crisis characterised by biting shortages of fuel, electricity and basics such as bread and water is not urgently addressed.

Speaking at the party's Road to Economic Recovery, Legitimacy, Openness And Democracy (Reload) policy document launch on Thursday, Chamisa said Zimbabwe was "burning" and in the throes of a serious political and socio-economic crisis.

"The resolution of this crisis, more than ever before, has become a matter of extreme urgency and emergency. It's clear that soft-landing the crisis has to be done by creating a Zimbabwe that we want to avert this impending and inevitable implosion," he said.

"I have no doubt in my mind that Zimbabwe is heading for a disaster. It's facing an abyss. A dark cloud hangs over this nation, but to avoid this implosion, we must take bold steps that will avoid the catastrophe that we are going to face."

The MDC is calling upon the church, war veterans and other non-political players to join in the move to pile pressure on President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government to act.

"We must build political and diplomatic pressure on this administration to realise the need for peaceful change," Chamisa said.

"To assure ourselves that our victory is secured, we believe in non-violent democratic action for peaceful change. We will be radically peaceful in terms of the Constitution. Let this be a collective action, it can't be an MDC issue. There is need to escalate the Zimbabwean crisis so that it becomes an international crisis and build a global solidarity network."

Chamisa said while the MDC would not take up arms to forcibly remove Mnangagwa's government, it was important to create a platform that solved the problems of the country without loss of life.