Zimbabwe Council Of Churches Calls On ZANU PF, MDC To Talk As Economic Crisis Deepens

The Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC) is again seeking to bring President Emmerson Mnangagwa and MDC president Nelson Chamisa to the negotiating table.

This comes when doctors’ strike entered a second month, unending fuel queues at service stations and the cost of living skyrocketing. Teachers have also threatened to go on strike. Cash shortages have persisted, with the bond note losing its value against the US dollar.

While the MDC has repeatedly called for dialogue, ZANU PF has scoffed at those calls, insisting that it has the people’s mandate to rule.

In a statement released on Tuesday, ZCC said:

We can choose the route of engagement or the route of conflict, the route of individual solutions or that of a shared vision, the route that entrenches greed or one that leads to the common good. As the Church of Jesus Christ, we serve as a sign of hope by being truthful in looking at the current challenges and their root causes.

We also remain committed to proffering solutions which are inclusive, realistic and sustainable. The church, therefore, commits to creating a shared space for a collaborative national consensus-building process aimed at creating a space of trust in which all Zimbabweans can shape a new national imagination.

Many people have a low opinion of the willingness and capability of government and other leaders to resolve pressing challenges due to lack of clarity of communication on the nature of the problems and how they are being addressed.

We, therefore, call for a broad-based consultative process to come up with a national economic vision and a fundamental redistribution of wealth for the benefit of all Zimbabweans.

More: Newsday

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