PRETORIA – Zimbabwe’s political protagonists needed to take stock of their contributions to the country’s current state of affairs and engage in meaningful dialogue and cooperation to propel the nation to its former glory.
This was according to the Africa Institute of South Africa’s Dr Shingirirai Mutanga.
“What do we need to do as a way forward in Zimbabwe? Address the current polarisation. A genuine dialogue and solution-seeking summit could be a starting point. Taking stock of how each party has contributed to the [situation] that we have today can help,” said Mutanga.
He was addressing a symposium on Zimbabwe hosted by the department of international relations and cooperation (Dirco) in Pretoria.
Mutanga said the levels of polarisation based on political affiliation in the country were “too deep”.
“Can we at least have one voice that has national interests at heart? While the current government is on the reform agenda and economic reforms, the nexus between the economic reforms and political reforms cannot be underestimated. There is a need to really introspect and have synergy between these two different fronts.”
In her keynote address, Dirco Minister Dr Naledi Pandor said Pretoria strongly believed that Zimbabwe’s current challenges could only be solved by the country’s millions of citizens, aided by friendly neighbours like South Africa and others in the region.
“We do not have the answers as Dirco and we hope to benefit from the wisdom of this dialogue. The imposed sanctions have not resulted in an end to the problems thus we need a move beyond describing the problems and the identification of key steps toward real change, growth and stability in Zimbabwe,” she said.
African News Agency (ANA)
