OPPOSITION Build Zimbabwe Alliance leader Noah Manyika yesterday said his party was committed to a unity arrangement with other parties to unseat Zanu PF, but on condition the leader of the pact was chosen by the people, not through negotiations.
By NQOBANI NDLOVU
Manyika told journalists during a Press conference that forming a “coalition of opposition parties for the sake of unity” and assuming it would dislodge Zanu PF was taking the people of Zimbabwe for granted and insulting their intelligence.
“We must have a winning coalition. We must have that kind of coalition that can inspire people to vote, that can inspire people to go and register to vote. We (leaders) must be tested by the people, all of us, and that includes Build Zimbabwe Alliance,” he said during a question-and-answer session.
“We must be tested by the people, we must go out there and win their support and as we do that, we must allow the process of being tested by the people of Zimbabwe to define the kind of coalition leadership we must have that can be inspiring to the people to vote for us.”
Opposition parties were emphasising the need for a unity pact to unseat President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF, but questions on who will lead the coalition appeared to be stalling the process.
Manyika argued that opposition parties must have a coalition grounded on solid principles and others to ensure victory against Zanu PF.
“The idea that you can just put together a coalition of parties and then suggest you have the majority of the people, I think, is an insult to the intelligence of the people of Zimbabwe. I really think that is taking the people of Zimbabwe for granted,” he said.
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“We have to do the ground work of inspiring people to register to vote and go out there to sell our vision, each and every one of us. The idea of prematurely getting a union breeds intellectual laziness . . . We are interested in uniting with other parties, and will not work against that . . . We want an effective well-thought process that does not take the people for granted.”
