Failed Mugabe Must Swallow Pride And Call For National Conference-Dumiso dabengwa

ZAPU leader Dumiso Dabengwa has challenged President Robert Mugabe to swallow his pride and convene an all stakeholders meeting to address the country’s economic crisis and stem a total meltdown.

Dabengwa was speaking at a press conference Thursday during which he delivered his party’s assessment of Mugabe’s August 25 State of the Nation Address.

“As Zapu we call on all stakeholders to come together for dialogue on the way forward before the country grinds to a halt,” he said.

“We know that Zanu is ashamed to admit defeat and failure, and as such will always scream liberation war credentials as qualification to be a stakeholder.

“However, Zapu reminds them that they did not fight the war alone, the time for guns and sloganeering is past.

“Come to the table as Smith did and let us build the country together just as we defeated oppression together side by side.”

The former Zipra intelligence supremo said Mugabe’s Zanu PF party had no capacity to singlehandedly pull the country out of the current economic crisis.

“Zapu stands ready to lead Zimbabwe out of this sorry state of the nation. The future belongs to all stakeholders working together.

“The existence and prosperity of Zimbabwe as a sovereign nation state cannot depend on bankrupt Zanu PF ideas,” he said.

The former home affairs minister said Mugabe’s address showed that the nonagenarian was out of touch with reality.

“It is very sad for a 91-year-old to be heckled and booed by people half his age as we witnessed in Parliament on 25 August as Mugabe read his wish list packaged as the state of the nation address.

“One could not help but be amazed at just how much out of touch he is with the situation on the ground.

“If only Mugabe allowed himself to visit the industries and see what has happened to all those factories that used to manufacture. He must visit all the towns and see with his own eyes,” said Dabengwa.

The former Zanu PF politburo member said Mugabe’s lieutenants were also to blame for passing wrong information to him.

He also castigated the newly signed Labour Amendment Act, saying it did not adequately address the plight of workers.

“The rushed Labour Bill is not enough to address the plight of the workers in Zimbabwe,” said the opposition politician.

“It depicts a country far removed from international conventions on labour.”

He added: “It is too little too late.

“We have workers from closed down industries still struggling to collect their pensions and gratuity pay-outs.

“The government should have engaged employers and employee unions as well as international labour experts to draft a comprehensive and constitutional labour bill.

“But as usual, they adopted the populist approach and opened the proverbial can of worms with their retrospective clause in the bill.”

photo–Mugabe must swallow pride … Zapu leader Dumiso Dabengwa-radiodialogue