THE clergy, under the umbrella of Christian Voice International-Zimbabwe (CVI-Z), have questioned the logic of having an international think-tank facilitating unity talks among opposition political parties, arguing the process must be home-grown.
BY NQOBANI NDLOVU
CVI-Z president, Tapfumaneyi Zenda said the clergy in Zimbabwe were at hand to facilitate the coalition talks, questioning the logic of having a foreign think-tank leading the process.
“The church’s secondary role is to mediate, manage and maintain peace between conflicting parties. Apart from our primary role of preaching salvation, as the clergy we are the most neutral entity of society that all other entities should depend,” he said.
“As the church we strongly hold the opinion that mediation of a coalition between ZimPF, MDC-T and other political parties must be home grown. It is the people on the ground who know what is best for them and the destiny of our nation.”
Local reports said coalition talks between opposition parties to have a single candidate face President Robert Mugabe in the 2018 elections will be held in neighbouring South Africa this week, and will be facilitated by an international think-tank.
According to the reports, the In Transformative Initiative (ITI), an organisation that seeks to assist and support peace-making processes, has agreed to facilitate the unity talks between Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC T, Joice Mujuru’s ZimPF and other parties.
The ITI works towards promoting dialogue among citizens, government and any other sectors, where conflict and violence exists or might become a possibility.
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Analysts have emphasised the need for a coalition to unseat Mugabe’s Zanu PF, but talks to unite them have not succeeded, with reasons such as mistrust and personality egos cited as the reason for their collapse.
“We have enough representation of highly qualified and mature leaders within our ranks to carry out such a mandate (mediation),” Zenda said.
