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Herald Reporters
MDC–Alliance leader Mr Nelson Chamisa yesterday tacitly confessed to causing the suffering of the people in the country at present, during a prayer meeting in Harare.

Mr Chamisa was part of political, church, civil society leaders who attended the National Leaders Breakfast Prayer Meeting held at a city hotel.

The meeting was organised by the Zimbabwe Council of Churches.

Mr Chamisa said the challenges facing the country could not be solved without repentance.

“There is no reconciliation and dialogue which can ever take place if there is no confession,” he said.

“I realise that President Mnangagwa is not here, I would have wanted to say what I want to say while he is around, but I will say my piece,” he said.

Mr Chamisa wanted President Mnagagwa to attend yesterday’s meeting, yet he snubbed his invitation to State House on Wednesday for a dialogue.

About 21 presidential candidates in last year’s harmonised elections accepted President Mnagagwa’s invitation.

Mr Chamisa, who saluted President Mnangagwa, said the meeting yesterday was an important platform to speak his mind.

“We, the politicians are the source of agonies in our country,” he said. “I am ready right now to meet President Mnangagwa so that we can dialogue and solve the crisis this country is facing.

“There can never be a confession without revelation, and there can never be revelation without humility, so I must confess that as politicians we are the source of the agonies of our land.”

Mr Chamisa said as political leaders there was need for them to repent from their wicked ways.

“As a people we have not reached the stage of humility. It should not be difficult for me to see (President) Mnangagwa and we dialogue.”

MDC-Alliance and its affiliate non-governmental organisations were to blame for the recent violent protests that saw the destruction of property, looting of shops, arson and barricading of roads.

Several people were killed including a police officer. Analysts said protests had a hidden political agenda yet their organisers were hiding behind fuel hikes and genuine labour issues which were being pursued by civil servants.