Zimbabwe Churches Try to Broker Dialogue after Opposition Snubs Mnangagwa Talks
Zimbabwe’s Churches on Thursday sought to broker talks between the government and its opponents over a political and economic crisis they said had left the country “angry and traumatized.’’
This incident happened after the main opposition snubbed a meeting with the president.
The southern African nation had hoped to shake off its divided past after a 2017 coup forced long-time leader, Robert Mugabe from power, but 2018’s disputed election won by President Emmerson Mnangagwa, only deepened political rifts.
Critics say that under Mnangagwa, Zimbabwe revisited the authoritarianism that was the hallmark of Mugabe’s regime.
There was a security crackdown on post-election bloodshed in August and another one in January, which was against violent protests.
Mnangagwa skipped the meeting after initially indicating he would attend.
He was represented by Defence Minister, Oppah MuchinguriKashiri.
The main opposition leader, Nelson Chamisa, politicians from smaller parties, diplomats, business leaders and several cabinet ministers attended Thursday’s meeting, the first of such gathering since Mnangagwa first came to power in November 2017.
Church leaders said they had stepped forward to mediate and reconcile political parties, which would lay the basis for the recovery of an economy battling a severe dollar shortage that has sapped supplies of fuel and medicines.
“Zimbabwe is clearly hurting, angry and traumatised nation,’’ Bishop Ambrose Moyo, who heads the Ecumenical Church Leaders Forum, said during a prayer meeting with politicians.
“Such a dialogue as initiated by the churches will help us to do some serious introspection as we speak to one another.
“We stand committed to this process, set up by the united church to build peace, unity and prosperity,’’ Moyo said.
Some ruling party officials have accused Chamisa and his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) of only seeking talks to be accommodated in government, which the opposition denied.
The last time the MDC held talks with the ruling ZANU-PF in 2008 resulted in the formation of a unity government that ushered in a period of political and economic stability.