By Dylan Murambgi
VICE President Constantino Chiwenga has urged church to rein in the opposition leader by compelling him to desist from planning to reject elections results not in his favour.
He made the remarks Friday in his closing submissions after meeting heads of Christian denomination Friday who had approached the presidium with a plea to urgently resolve the crises confronting the nation which has seen poverty reaching alarming levels.
But Chiwenga reiterated unconditional government’s stance on engagement and urged the clergymen to tackle national issues with similar views especially when the opposition declines to accept elections losses.
“We are also aware that there is an opposition which does not want to see credible elections.
“It is public knowledge that they have declared that they must win tomorrow’s election and the 2023 harmonised general elections failing which they would not concede defeat.
“This is where we appeal to you as church leaders to try and impress upon them to respect the will of the people in electing a political party of their choice,” he said.
The second in charge reiterated that while its acceptable to differ on political lines, the will of the people, as constitutionally guaranteed must be respected.
Sai Chiwenga, “It will be recalled that at his inauguration in 2018, President Mnangagwa extended an olive branch to the opposition and invited them to dialogue and work together as leaders of political parties to resolve the persistent problem of post-election polarisation and focus on developing our country.”
The remarks come at a time when the opposition supporter was attacked and killed in Kwekwe during a star rally and despite the police acknowledging the link of the assailants to the ruling party, no one has been brought to book over the matter to date.
In another incident a popular supporter known as Madzibaba veshanduko was savagely beaten up by a detail in the Zimbabwe Republic Police and the case continues to rage on in the courts.
The incidences have prompted political analysts to accuse the ruling party of being more violent as opposed to the mere threats made by Chamisa.
Responding to the request by the spiritual leaders on the need to convene an all stakeholders dialogue to end the obtaining crises, the vice president reminded the church leaders that engagement has been at the second administration priorities as manifest through the creation of the POLAD platform, which was unfortunately rejected by Chamisa.
“Once again I appeal to church leaders to impress upon those leaders who are not willing to join others under POLAD to have a change of their hearts and put the interests of the nation ahead of their own political interests.
“They should desist from their destructive path of achieving political power through unconstitutional means.
“Threats to make this country ungovernable on account of account of one person losing an election have been uttered publicly. In my view, you as Church leaders, as the conscience of our nation, should speak loudly condemning such counterproductive utterances,” he added.
