Fr Mukonori Wants Chamisa-Mnangagwa Dialogue

Fr Mukonori Wants Chamisa-Mnangagwa Dialogue

Roman Catholic Church priest, Father Fidelis Mukonori, has implored President Emmerson Mnangagwa and CCC leader Nelson Chamisa to engage in one-on-one dialogue to unite the nation and move the country forward.

SADC Reject Zimbabwe Elections

Chamisa rejected the outcome of the recent presidential election after the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) declared Mnangagwa the winner with 52.6% of the votes.

Speaking in an interview with a local media house, Mukonori said Chamisa should be “courageous” to engage Mnangagwa in dialogue rather than embark on street protests as it will lead to the killing of innocent people.

The Herald quoted Mukonori as saying:

The one who says I am not satisfied and I believe the elections were not free and fair should also have the courage, it takes courage for someone to say let us sit down and discuss, it takes wisdom, courage is wisdom.

It is essential for the two to sit down and discuss. Discussions are more difficult than toy-toying on the streets and it will get people killed.

They (discussions) are more difficult because they require thinking and it is an exercise that has no textbook and thinking requires someone who has to know how to think.

Father Fidelis Mukonori shot to international fame in 2017 when he mediated between Robert Mugabe and the military generals who had taken control the country.

The negotiations saw the ouster of Mugabe, who had ruled Zimbabwe with an iron fist for nearly 40 years.

Mukonori had been close to Mugabe for decades, having negotiated talks in the 1970s between guerrillas and colonial ruler Britain that led to independence in 1980 and saw Mugabe’s transformation from rebel leader to prime minister and president of Zimbabwe.

Fr Mukonori Wants Chamisa-Mnangagwa Dialogue

Meanwhile, Mukonori stated that it is not too late for Mnangagwa and Chamisa to engage in meaningful dialogue. He said:

We need that humility. It is only a lawyer who is called an educated person but there has to be a display to say indeed we are learned and therefore let us sit down and discuss.

I believe it is necessary, it is not too late to request the two sides, the winner and loser to say please can you sit down and discuss. There is a need for serious discussion.

CCC has responded to the call for dialogue by Father Mukonori saying that the only dialogue is about forming a National Transitional Authority pending a fresh election.

Party spokesperson Prosper Mkwananzi said:

Accordingly, a genuine bilateral framework for dialogue will need to be facilitated between the two political leaders. In addition the dialogue must include several other key Stakeholders such as the church, civil society, Business, women, youth, informal traders etc.

The dialogue must be underwritten by @SADC_News from the outset & be confined to only one objective: To establish a Transitional Authority whose sole mandate would be to deal with all issues that hinder a free & fair election in Zimbabwe such as the disbanding of ZEC, political & media reforms etc & the conduction of a fresh, free & fair election within the shortest practicable time to save Zimbabwe & indeed the region which may suffer the most from the spillover effects of Zimbabwe’s incessant electoral disputes.