Nelson Chamisa Speaks On GNU with Mnangagwa

MDC Alliance presidential candidate Nelson Chamisa yesterday vowed to fight to the bitter end and flatly rejected president-elect Emmerson Mnangagwa’s overtures to end the dispute over the outcome of the July 30 presidential election.

Chamisa, who has disputed the outcome of the polls that showed Mnangagwa winning the presidency by 50,8%, said he would not rest until the results are overturned.

The youthful MDC Alliance leader ruled out the possibility of a government of national unity (GNU) with Mnangagwa, saying he would not be used to legitimise an illegality.

Addressing the media in his victory speech on Friday, Mnangagwa tried to reach out to Chamisa, saying he had a role to play in the “present and the future of the country”, a statement immediately interpreted to mean he was mulling a GNU with the opposition party.

Nelson Chamisa Speaks On GNU with Mnangagwa

But in an interview with The Standard yesterday, MDC Alliance national chairman Morgen Komichi ruled out such a possibility.

He said unity governments should be a voluntary thing and not forced through election theft.

“We don’t want people to abuse their power, to abuse the guns to rig elections in order to (force a unity government). let the GNU come out of free and fair elections, let it come out of a voluntary process where the winner should lead the GNU,” Komichi said.

“Let the GNU be a policy of the party, not to rig elections and then call for a GNU, that is not acceptable.”

Zimbabwe has been on the edge since the July 30 elections, with the military reacting brutally to protests by the MDC Alliance who were demanding the release of election results. The military action resulted in the death of seven people, although there are fears the number could be more than that.

As the tension thickened police on Friday tried to stop a press briefing by Chamisa before Information minister Simon Khaya Moyo intervened.

Mnagagwa then held his own press conference at State House moments after Chamisa’s and said Chamisa had a role to play in the country, calling him to peace to ensure the country succeeded in its rebuilding process.
Chamisa reacted through Komichi and said: “President Mnangagwa must learn to be different from Mugabe, but anyhow, when he was defeated by president Tsvangirai in 2008, Mugabe wanted to hand over power to Tsvangirai, but it was Mnangagwa who reversed that.

“He is not a new person in this matter. He is the master of deceit. He must not pretend to be good to the world, he knows what he did. He rigged the elections and he now wants to extend an olive branch. Can that be politics? It is a culture that is developing in Africa, and we cannot allow that kind of thing. Let a winner be a winner.”