'Sickly Mugabe has nothing to offer Zimbabweans'

The main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by Dr Morgan Richard Tsvangirai, says Zimbabweans should not expect "anything meaningful" to come out of President Robert Mugabe's state of the nation address (Sona) scheduled for Tuesday.

In a statement sent to News24, the MDC said Mugabe, 91, won't proffer any sustainable solutions to the country's economic and political crisis.

"It would be unwise for the poverty-stricken and politically downtrodden people of Zimbabwe to expect anything meaningful and workable to come out of Mugabe's Sona," the statement reads.

"We are dealing with a tired and sickly old man who has clearly seen better days in his political life. As such the nation should expect the same old, tired, and recycled story of [the] so called regime change agents working in cahoots with Western imperialists in order to force the collapse of the Zanu-PF government," the statement said.

The MDC said since Mugabe and his ruling Zanu-PF party won the country's disputed elections in 2013, the country's economic fortunes continue to deteriorate.

"Since [then] ...  no less than 150 000 workers have since lost their jobs as several companies and industries continue to close down, downsize or simply terminate employment contracts of thousands of desperate workers."

The MDC claimed Mugabe's government was "completely unable to lead Zimbabwe out of the prevailing economic decay and financial doldrums".