Opposition MDC Alliance has welcomed the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) calls for a meaningful and constructive dialogue in Zimbabwe.
Speaking during a press briefing in Harare today, MDC Alliance vice president Welshman Ncube said the country’s isolation from the international community was a result of the past.
“We need to engage ourselves so that when we engage with the International Community we must be of the same mind to what needs to be done. Let’s never forget that the international isolation of Zimbabwe began a long time ago and was in fact a result of our own action, remember when as Zimbabwe we expelled some international observers, we did not allow them to observe our elections.
“We did all sorts of things that we should not have done and that was the genesis of the international community beginning to take restrictive measures, to make sanctions against individuals on Zimbabwe because of our own conduct and we need to go back to that and what did we do, what should we not have done,” said Ncube.
He added “We welcome SADC’s position to have dialogue talk to ourselves and hopefully to agree on the things that we need to do. The 2023 elections are not far away we are already in campaign season. The behaviour to close the democratic space right now is of course informed by the fact that elections are around the corner and you will see all the bad habits of trying to deprive the people of Zimbabwe their most fundamental right. The most fundamental right of the Zimbabwe people is their sovereignty and is captured in our right to determine who must lead us what kind of Government must run the country.”
In a solidarity message on the anti-sanctions day SADC said “The Republic of Zimbabwe, and the SADC Region, are committed to engage in meaningful and constructive dialogue with all relevant stakeholders, with a view to consolidate the rule of law, democracy, governance and human rights. It is only through such exchanges that better appreciation of concerns of all parties could be secured and progress towards their resolution be achieved.”
