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MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa has reportedly telephoned economist Eddie Cross on how he can engage President Emmerson Mnangagwa as pressure to solve the Zimbabwean crisis mounts.
Zimbabwe according to political commentators is burning due to political differences between President Emmerson Mnangagwa and MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa.
The differences emanates from the disputed July 2018 Presidential elections where Mnangagwa was announced as the winner by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and his victory was further endorsed by the Constitutional Court.
Chamisa disputes both the ZEC announcement and the Constitutional Court outcome claiming that he is the one who was given the mandate by the people but his victory was stolen.
This standoff has reportedly seen some potential investors taking a wait and see approach on Zimbabwe, at a time when the country desperately need foreign direct investment (FDI) to resuscitate the near collapse economy.
In an interview on Tuesday Talk, Cross who is also advisor to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, said Chamisa missed an important opportunity when he declined the opposition leader’s position in Parliament which had been proposed by Mnangagwa, adding that the only way would be for him to accept the 2018 election results.
“Nelson (Chamisa) called me this other day, I hadn’t seen him for about 18 months, he called me and asked me what I think he should be doing and I said you should be talking to Mnangagwa and he said how do we get that started and I said the first thing is you got to accept that he won the 2018 elections end of conversation.
“If you don’t accept that the President is legitimate and that he won elections legitimately then you cant start a conversation and that’s the position and nothing is going to change that.
“No amount of external pressure is going to change that situation, its something we have to do among ourselves,” he said.
The former Bulawayo South legislator added that “I think Chamisa has lost a huge opportunity because I think if he had accepted Emmerson’s (President Mnangagwa) victory in 2018 and accepted his role as leader of the opposition in Parliament, I think the President would have been much more accommodating.
“And I think we would have seen the situation in Zimbabwe moving more or less along the lines of a consensual type of government arrangement than what we have got at the moment.
“You have to remember too that the President is someone who is also under pressure from his own people and he is a not a free agent and neither is Ramaphosa,” he said.
According to Cross, Chamisa should have taken a leaf from the Hilary Clinton and the late Morgan Tsvangirai who despite winning elections respectively, they accepted Donald Trump’s and Robert Mugabe’s victories.
Asked on how Chamisa took the advice, Cross said the youthful MDC Alliance leader maintained his call that Emmerson Mnangagwa and Zanu PF stole his victory and he wants them to first acknowledge that before talks can proceed.
“He (Chamisa) said the precondition for talks is that he wants the government to accept that it was not legitimately elected.
“Therefore the conversation can’t even start, you cant even begin to dialogue if that is the opening statement,” he said.
Cross added “I remember going back to my time with Morgan Tsvangirai, Morgan won the election by a clear margin, a very clear margin.
“But he accepted his role as Prime Minister under pressure from regional states and then he tried to make the best of his role.
“Was the GNU a success, yes it was a rolling success but it was finally undermined by Mugabe.
“In fact, it was destroyed by Mugabe and regional states allowed him to do it,” he said.