Harare(New Ziana)-President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Friday said dialogue remains a top priority for his government as it is a critical instrument for resolving challenges facing the country.
Officially opening the Political Actors Dialogue (Polad) executive plenary, President Mnangagwa said his government would continue to engage all stakeholders as a way of resolving dispute.
“Since the launch of Polad, we have achieved several milestones which has seen us putting aside our differences in order to come up with solutions and reforms for our beloved country Zimbabwe. This should reflect the cooperation in Polad which is a symbol of what we can achieve when united as one,” he said.
“The cornerstone of the Second Republic hinges on the deployment of dialogue as a means of resolving issues affecting our nation. And what we are gathered here today serves to confirm that notion,” he added.
President Mnangagwa later told journalists after the closed session that he was impressed with the work done by the six sub-committees of Polad.
He cited the international re-engagement committee chaired by MDC-T leader Thokozane Khupe as the most progressive section of Polad.
“They have done a fantastic work I was not aware. They met several embassies in the country both from the African continent as well as from beyond. And they had made plans to travel outside Africa but because of coronavirus, they are likely not to proceed until they are cleared,” he said.
He added: “Then there was the national healing and peace building committee, they discussed issues of political parties using civil language. They want political party leaders to be civil with their language, not to incite people to violence. We must always be patriotic about our country.”
President Mnangagwa said leaders of the political parties in Polad would meet sometime next week.
“Next week we will be meeting as heads of political parties.”
Meanwhile Khupe expressed confidence that her committee would bring positive results.
“Our job as the re-engagement and international relations committee is to engage the international community so that we build relations that had been strained in the past two decades so that Zimbabwe goes back to the international family of nations,” she said.
“We are saying as Zimbabwe, we want to be given a second chance, we want to be given bail out in order to restart our economy. This country needs new money, and we need it.
“We are very confident with Polad we are here as political players to make sure that we work together with the ruling elite in making sure that we push the agenda of Zimbabwe,” she said.
National healing committee chair, Lucia Matibenga said President Mnangagwa supported all the recommendations that the six committees made.
“We are responsible for trying to build peaceful, social cohesion. We want our politics to be played in an environment where the members who support us are participating freely even if they have opposing views.
“We received a thumps up from the President, he is very happy with the work that the committees have presented,” she said.
National Consultative Assembly (NCA) president who is also the Governance and Legislative committee chair Professor Lovemore Madhuku said his committee told President Mnangagwa that they rejected constitutional amendments
“We told him that this is not the appropriate time to do an amendment to the Constitution and that the government must delay the process by delaying the Constitutional Bill and then give more time to people in Polad to come up with our own issues that we want amended,” he said.
New Ziana
