Itai Zimunya, one of Zimbabwe’s civic freedom fighters, seems to agree with Natasha Msonza on the issue of a Government of National Unity (GNU). Indeed, it would seem that the majority of Zimbabweans might support talks between the MDC and Zanu PF, but they reject any suggestion of a GNU.

A text message sent to the Zimbabwe Independent newspaper sums it up . . . the next time we have elections in Zimbabwe, there should be a box with GNU next to it on the ballot paper, if that’s what the outcome of an election ends up being.

Here is some of Itai’s thinking:

Even though dialogue was widely seen as the best way forward to resolve the crisis in Zimbabwe, its form and nature are equally important as to influence the outcome. There is a growing error by some of our fellows that are celebrating the MoU of July 21 2008 for promising, peace, food etc. That may be right but very much a contested point. Peace and food and security are the business of governments, and that’s what Zanu PF had to do anyway. The danger of setting such a precedent will surely weaken the position of citizens in their relations with the state. It would mean that next time, someone can lose or see the iminent threat of losing an election. And they become violent and deny people food such that, these will only come or be guaranteed when they begin talks of a GNU. This model and line of thinking spells doom for Africa. It was Kibaki and now Mugabe – and the AU, in all cases, is supporting this.

This entry was posted on July 25th, 2008 at 10:38 am by Bev Clark and is filed under Elections 2008, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.