HARARE – Information Publicity and Broadcasting Services minister Jenfan Muswere has hit out at the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) leader Nelson Chamisa for “trying to create a false impression of a post-election crisis in Zimbabwe.” Muswere said Chamisa’s statement was aimed at spreading despondency and tarnishing the image of the country.
“The Government takes note of the fallacy-ridden statement by Mr. Nelson Chamisa to try to rally Zimbabweans to despondency and to mislead the global community about a nonexistent post-election crisis in our country,” Muswere said.
“There is no constitutional crisis in Zimbabwe. There has never been such a crisis even on the road towards the 23 August election”
Muswere added that in any case, Chamisa had failed to challenge the election results in court, as required by the constitution, and was therefore making baseless allegations of fraud.
The Information minister spoke after Chamisa escalated his confrontation with the government by announcing that his party’s MPs and councillors would disengage from parliament and councils until their demands were met. Chamisa, who addressed a media conference in Harare on Wednesday, gave national assembly speaker Jacob Mudenda a 14-day ultimatum to reverse the recalls of his party’s legislators or face dire consequences.
Chamisa said his party had not withdrawn from parliament, but had temporarily suspended its participation until justice was done. He hinted that his party might consider a complete withdrawal from parliament and local authorities if their demands were not met.
Muswere dismissed Chamisa’s claim that the government was illegitimate. He said the law was clear that any MP who voluntarily disengaged or withdrew from parliamentary duties would be betraying their mandate from the voters. He said a quorum constituted by the majority of MPs made all parliamentary business legitimate and legal.
Muswere said the government was focused on implementing the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1), which is a five-year economic blueprint that aims to transform Zimbabwe into an upper-middle-income economy by 2030.
