By Rungano Dzikira

Delusional Movement for Democratic Change - Alliance (MDC –A) Vice President, Tendai Biti has attracted a volley of criticism for his unrelenting pursuance of foreign input to solve domestic problems.

Addressing journalist yesterday, Biti besought South African president Cyril Ramamposa to mediate in the alleged Zimbabwe impasse as the chair of the African Union and concerned neighbour.

“We call upon the region (SADC) to intervene, particularly South Africa which chairs the AU. We need an external referee to underwrite the dialogue. If there is no regional intervention, people will lose their lives,” he said.

Biti further said MDC-A supported the illegal protests slated for 31 July. “Citizens have a right to peaceful protest. Instead of inciting violence, Government should dialogue with citizens,” he added.

Political analyst, Raymond Mwando said Biti’s utterances, though sad and shocking were not surprising to many right thinking Zimbabweans.

“Only that memory is in short supply in the country. Remember that Biti and Roy Bennet were the authors of ZIDERA. You would also recall that Morgan Tsvangirai at one time also asked South Africa to cut electricity supply to Zimbabwe simply to advance their regime change agenda.”

Concurringly, Donald Muzhanye, a professor in the department of Local Governance with the University of Zimbabwe said Biti belonged to a rare breed of national saboteurs.

“Biti’s utterances are sad to any progressive Zimbabwean. If at all he feels there are problems at home, why not exhaust all available channels to try and resolve any impasse instead of running to Ramaphosa,” he said.

This is not the first time that the opposition has rushed for regional, and or international interference. The past two decades have seen the oppositions’ principals constantly rushing to seek international assistance (from the US, EU and the AU) for internal dialogue, but not to initiate dialogue from within to solve domestic problems.