Political Reporter
MDC-T leader Senator Douglas Mwonzora has lambasted his critics from the MDC-Alliance for labeling him a traitor because of his stance towards national dialogue.
Speaking in Harare recently, Mwonzora highlighted that dialogue in Zimbabwe had helped solve problems and cited the Lancaster House settlement, which enabled a cease-fire and subsequent talks between the Rhodesian Front and the nationalists following a protracted war between 1964 and 1979.
Same also cited the Unity Accord which was a culmination of talks between the late former President Robert Mugabe and the late Vice President Joshua Nkomo after the Matebeleland disturbances in 1987, and the Government of National Unity which encouraged political tolerance, national peace and spurred economic growth after the disputed 2008 elections.
Mwonzora further defended his party’s presence in the Political Actor’s Dialogue (POLAD) and urged other political players to shun confrontational politics and engage in constructive dialogue like previous politicians in the form of the late Nkomo, Mugabe and Tsvangirai.
Mwonzora also dismissed allegations that he was being used by ZANU PF to further their political agenda. This follows attacks on Mwonzora by opposition activists like Pedzisai Ruhanya that he was cozying up to ZANU PF and that he was a ZANU PF project, which compromised democratic standards in Zimbabwe.
He urged opposition politicians to put national interests first before their political and personal interests. This was in reference to his sentiments on the Pan African Parliament (PAP), where he clarified that the candidature of Senator Chief Charumbira at the PAP was not ZANU-PF position but was in the interest of SADC as opposed to East and West African nations who wanted to continuously dominate PAP using their respective candidates.
On the national Covid-19 vaccination programme, Mwonzora clarified that the Covid-19 vaccinations programme was a national health strategy and not a pro-ZANU PF programme, hence he had the prerogative of supporting it since it was a matter of national interests.
