FISSURES are reportedly creeping in the MDC Alliance on whether to join an envisaged transitional government or not amid indications political party principals have divergent views on the way forward.
BY OBEY MANAYITI
President-designate Emmerson Mnangagwa will be sworn in today as the new leader replacing former President Robert Mugabe amid growing calls for an all-inclusive transitional arrangement tasked with reviving the economy and reintroducing adherence to constitutionalism.
Although Zanu PF has dismissed prospects of a transitional government, the MDC Alliance met recently and proposed a transitional arrangement to urgently stabilise the country.
It emerged yesterday that some principals in the Alliance were against such an arrangement, claiming it would give Zanu PF a lifeline in a similar manner the previous inclusive government reportedly did.
“It will be a mistake to sanitise Zanu PF at the moment. The Alliance is definitely affected by what is happening. There are some in the Alliance who want to be part of this proposed transitional government, while others do not want and this is dividing the coalition. If they go ahead, that is the end of it,” one of the Alliance principals confided to NewsDay.
“Those who want to pick up the pieces that Zanu PF are leaving behind are on the forefront trying to call for their inclusion in the Alliance and those who feel it’s not the noble thing to do, they are thinking otherwise.
“So far, Alliance meetings have been held back to allow people to speak and negotiate with the military for those who are making some manoeuvres. People have been approached separately and individually and not as the Alliance and this is where the confusion is coming from.”
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But Alliance spokesperson Welshman Ncube maintained they had a collective decision to support the transitional arrangement.
“I am not sure where you are getting that sort of nonsense from. There are absolutely no divisions of any descriptions in the MDC Alliance,” Ncube said.
“We had a meeting with all the principals last week on Friday and this issue was debated extensively. In fact, three-quarters of the time at that meeting involved debating that issue on what is the way forward given the circumstances.”
MDC-T secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora weighed in, saying only such an arrangement would save the country at this juncture.
He, however, said Zanu PF had not made any overtures to form an inclusive arrangement.
“The MDC has always called for a transitional mechanism to deal with arrest of the economic decay and the redress of abnormal poverty levels in our country. It also has to deal with conditions for a free and fair election,” Mwonzora said.
“Free and fair elections don’t come simply because Mugabe is gone. We want transitional mechanisms which deal with concrete steps to eliminate all forms of violence and intimidation before, during and after elections.”
