BY NQOBANI NDLOVU
CIVIC society organisations (CSOs)and the clergy have called on the Sadc bloc and the African Union (AU) to put the Zimbabwean political and socio-economic crises on the agenda and facilitate dialogue to help resolve the country’s worsening socio-political problems.
The CSOs and the clergy, under the banner CSOs and Churches Joint Form (CSCJF), in a statement yesterday said the Zimbabwean crisis was untenable, adding it was a ticking time-bomb that would leave the country burning like Sudan if left unresolved.
The CSCJF bemoaned the runaway inflation that has condemned the majority into poverty, and the failure by the ruling elite and the opposition parties to find common ground in order to bring lasting solutions to the country’s multi-faceted problems.
“We appeal to the regional bodies, Sadc and the AU to consider putting the Zimbabwean conflict on their agenda and facilitate dialogue that will not result in the gratification of politicians, but in the setting up of a people-centric and all-inclusive dialogue, whose outcome will promote peace and development for the benefit of the ordinary citizens. On the dialogue table, those representing the ordinary citizens should to be involved,” the CSCJF said.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa recently launched a political parties dialogue forum with about 17 opposition parties that participated in the 2018 general elections. The main opposition party, MDC snubbed the dialogue process, demanding a neutral interlocutor.
However, the CSCJF argued that long suffering Zimbabweans could not wait any longer while parties continue to politick.
“We are perturbed by the runaway inflation that is rendering all our efforts to survive useless. Inflation has relegated the ordinary hardworking Zimbabweans to the extreme margins of poverty, whose effects are not only devastating, but are also dehumanising,” CSCJF said.
