Tsvangirai, Biti pushes for GNU-2

The MDC-T, led by ex-premier Morgan Tsvangirai, is pushing hard for another government of national unity.

The party's leadership, including Tsvangirai and party secretary general Tendai Biti, has in the past fortnight been calling for dialogue with Zanu-PF to extricate the country from the current economic problems.

Writing on his social networking blog, Biti on Monday said it would be folly for President Robert Mugabe and Zanu-PF to think that they could go it alone, given the gravity of the economic crisis gripping the country.

"The country is going nowhere. It is in times like this that the true patriots amongst us must rise above the mediocrity of party jackets and other anecdotal prescriptions and put the country first," wrote Biti.

The ex-Finance minister suggested that the only way out was another coalition government.

"The assumption on the part of Zanu-PF that it can deal with this crisis on its own is a myth. This is no time for a zero sum mentality which is guaranteed to produce zero results. Critically, the onus is on Zanu-PF to bite the bullet, face the music and initiate national dialogue. It does not matter whether it is a national stakeholder's conference or another people's convention, the truth is the country cannot continue fumbling to nowhere," the MDC-T secretary general said.

"The dialogue must vaccinate itself against elite capture and the reproduction of another GNU (government of national unity) 2."

Before the general elections last July, Zimbabwe was government by a shaky coalition after political protagonists Mugabe and Tsvangirai were forced into a marriage of convenience following a blood-spattered run-off election in 2008 condemned at home and abroad.

Biti also told journalists at a press briefing on Tuesday that Zanu-PF was directionless and clueless on how to take the country out of the "rut".

"It is a very dangerous situation to have a country which is not talking to each other. It's a hallmark of instability, the hallmark of a broken down society. So Zimbabweans have to talk to each other to come up with a solution," he said.

"The starting point is on the side of Zanu-PF to accept that it has failed. To accept that they cannot lead us on their own; to accept that they are men of the past and to accept that problems are not solved by the same mind-set that created them – never mind that they are on the elderly side of life there has to be dialogue."

Zanu-PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo scoffed at suggestions of another coalition government with the MDC-T.

"The MDC-T top leadership are beginning to feel the pinch of the loss of government benefits they enjoyed in the previous coalition," Gumbo said. "We needed them then because we did not have enough numbers in parliament ,but now we have two thirds majority and we do not need them."

Gumbo added: "We cannot share power with people who have less than a third of parliamentary representation. If they have good ideas, they should present them in parliament and other forums then we can take them for implementation, not as a coalition, but as Zanu-PF government."

In what he called a state of the nation address last month, Tsvangirai intimated on another coalition government through dialogue.

"Faced with a similar crisis in 2008, we engaged in dialogue and we carved out a home-grown solution to the problems bedeviling our country. There is no substitute for dialogue. As MDC, we believe that meeting of stakeholders from different backgrounds would be a positive start," said Tsvangirai.

Zimbabwe has been grappling with a political and financial crisis for the better part of the last decade.