'Park rigged elections and focus on new GNU' - no, Zanu-PF must step down and rigged elections is the gist

"I think both leaders have to park that issue (whether last year's elections were free, fair and credible and therefore Mnangagwa and his Zanu-PF party are legitimate). In other words, Emmerson Mnangagwa mustn't be insisting that he be recognised," explained David Coltart, MDC treasurer general.

"Nelson Chamisa must say okay, I dispute that, but I am going to park this issue for the national interest so that we can get to the substantive issue because if both stand on their respective positions, it's going to be difficult for dialogue to be pursued."

"So, what the public needs to understand is that there is a consensus that we are committed to stabilising the country and to take the country through meaningful dialogue. What we believe though is that the playing field is uneven at present. We think - and I think justifiably - there are two dominant political parties in the country and two dominant political leaders, Nelson Chamisa and Emmerson Mnangagwa, and this is borne out of the election results."

This is just the point! Zanu-PF blatantly rigged last year's elections, just as the party has done all these last 39 years. The regime denied 3 million or so Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote, which is more than either Chamisa or Mnangagwa claim to have got.

Zimbabwe's own Human Rights Commission complained of rural voters being intimidated by traditional leaders and Zanu-PF operative and forced to allend Zanu-PF rallies and then vote for the party.

ZEC failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters' roll even though this is a legal requirement.

All the election observers with any democratic credentials condemned last year's elections. "The electoral commission lacked full independence and appeared to not always act in an impartial manner," stated the EU Observer Mission final report.

"The final results as announced by the Electoral Commission contained numerous errors and lacked adequate traceability, transparency and verifiability. Finally, the restrictions on political freedoms, the excessive use of force by security forces and abuses of human rights in the post-election period undermined the corresponding positive aspects during the pre-election campaign. As such, many aspects of the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards."

MDC should have never taken participated in last year's elections because we all know that with no meaningful reforms in place Zanu-PF will rig the elections. They participated out of greed, as Coltart himself admitted in his book.

"The worst aspect for me about the failure to agree a coalition was that both MDCs couldn't now do the obvious – withdraw from the (2013) elections," explained Senator Coltart.

"The electoral process was so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw, which would compel SADC to hold Zanu-PF to account. But such was the distrust between the MDC-T and MDC-N that neither could withdraw for fear that the other would remain in the elections, winning seats and giving the process credibility."

He blamed the failure to form a coalition in 2013 but that was just a feeble excuse because four of the main MDC factions did form a coalition before last year's elections and they still participated regardless.

The primary objective of the dialogue with Mnangagwa is to force the him to appoint Chamisa and a few other MDC leaders, ministers; in return for endorsing the illegitimate Zanu-PF regime legitimate. Allowing Zanu-PF to remain in power means Zimbabwe will remain a pariah state, adding Chamisa and a few other MDC leaders will not fool anyone into believing this is anything other than an illegitimate Zanu-PF dictatorship.

As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state, there will be no meaningful economic recover. Investors will still be wry of doing business in a pariah state.

Worse still, as long as Zanu-PF remain in power there will be no meaningful economic reforms implemented and so Zanu-PF is almost certain to rig the next elections, in 2023.

On the other hand, if the issue of Zanu-PF having blatantly rigging the elections and therefore being illegitimate was kept firmly on the national agenda and was universally agreed soon after the rigged elections then Zanu-PF would have been left in no doubt that the party must step down. Zanu-PF stepping down will allow the appointment of an independent body tasked to implement the reforms.

MDC's proposed power sharing arrangement with Zanu-PF will not help the country end the Zanu-PF dictatorship but strengthen the regime's grip on power. The people of Zimbabwe want the democratic reforms implemented to restore their freedoms and rights including the right to a free, fair and credible elections. The people know that Zanu-PF stopped listening to them a long time ago but what the people have yet to admit is that MDC leaders too are not listening to them.