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Joseph Madzimure-Senior Reporter

PRESIDENT Mnangagwa has offered CCC leader Mr Nelson Chamisa a platform for dialogue and is open to engagement, but the opposition leader must not use the channels to outwit his political rivals, Zanu PF Secretary for Information and Publicity, Cde Christopher Mutsvangwa, has said.

The call comes after CCC’s interim secretary-general, Mr Sengezo Tshabangu, recalled 15 CCC Members of Parliament (MPs) and 17 councillors alleging that they had ceased to be members of the opposition party.

Speaking at a press briefing at the party headquarters in Harare yesterday, Cde Mutsvangwa said President Mnangagwa is open to transparent dialogue.

“CCC leader Mr Chamisa was offered a platform for dialogue, an open engagement between President Mnangagwa and Chamisa with all the Zimbabwean people. The challenge which Chamisa is facing is that he wants to pollute that channel by using it to settle scores and outwit his rivals within CCC,” said Cde Mutsvangwa.

He added that Mr Chamisa has serious contenders for power within his party across the board from all the provinces and from all the ranks.

“There is this ramshackle party called CCC and he wants to outwit all the other rivals by using the engagement with President Mnangagwa as an accomplice for him to outwit his rivals within the party, but this is not the basis of sound bilateral party engagement because it introduces the chaos within the CCC, not only to Zanu PF, but to national politics,” he said.

Zanu PF, Cde Mutsvangwa said, wants an open book democracy where everybody sees what is happening and leaders are brought to account.

“We want an open book democracy where everybody sees what is happening and leaders are brought to account. We don’t want conspiratorial democracy where we outwit fellow Zimbabweans who have equal standing with the electorate or with the public to realise that in the dead of the night, a deal has been cut between President Mnangagwa and Chamisa which has marginalised them.

“This is a recipe for national disunity and disaster. We don’t have those problems in Zanu PF ourselves, so we cannot then become an accomplice to what Chamisa wants to do within his own ramshackle party.”

“He is saying let’s put all the issues on the table, let it be transparent. Let MDC-T Douglas Mwonzora know, let CCC vice presidents Tendai Biti and Professor Welshman Ncube know, let Chalton Hwende know. Let everybody know what we are doing, because then there is a buy-in because these people have supporters. 

“Then there is a buy-in by the public to what is going on. This is accountable democracy which is what President Mnangagwa is striving for. Chamisa wants conspiratorial democracy which President Mnangagwa will not subscribe to,” he said.

Cde Mutsvangwa confirmed that Mr Chamisa has sent his emissaries to Zanu PF seeking dialogue.

“President Mnangagwa received the emissaries from Chamisa. He did receive the emissaries and then he also did designate his own emissaries to interact with those people, but Chamisa does not want it to be known to Ncube, he doesn’t want it to be known to Biti, he doesn’t want it to be known to Chalton Hwende that there is an engagement with President Mnangagwa in a transparent and an open manner”.

On Wednesday Mr Chamisa admitted to sending emissaries to President Mnangagwa.