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<\/p>\nPRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has described his political arch-rival and opposition MDC leader Nelson Chamisa as a \u201crebel\u201d, just like the biblical Satan who could not co-exist with God in heaven.<\/p>\n
Addressing journalists at the closing ceremony of the Zimbabwe-South Africa Bi-National Commission Summit attended by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in Harare yesterday, Mnangagwa said his Zanu PF administration would not be pushed around by the opposition leader because he had already begun talks with \u201cpatriotic opposition parties\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will not be swayed by negative forces because even the Lord upstairs was not able to keep his house in order; he had Satan. These things happen. He still remains there,\u201d Mnangagwa said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Chamisa and five other opposition party leaders have stayed away from the Mnangagwa-initiated national dialogue, arguing that the process was flawed.<\/p>\n
The MDC leader has, instead, challenged Mnangagwa to swallow his pride and start \u201creal talks\u201d with him to resolve the country\u2019s crisis.<\/p>\n
But Mnangagwa, who won the disputed 2018 election by a slim margin, said Chamisa could \u201cgo hang\u201d, since he was already talking to those who were willing and patriotic to Zimbabwe\u2019s cause.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, in a democracy, it is not a crime to move away from progress by those who are not willing to come to the table with the rest of the parties and organisations in the country who are determined to work for the way forward of our country, to better the lives of our people. We cannot compel everybody to come to the table,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mnangagwa said it was Chamisa\u2019s democratic right to walk away \u201cfrom progress\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut those who have the need and desire and who are patriotic to their country will always come together and contribute to the constructive ideas, to move forward. As a result of this endeavour, I have created the Presidential Advisory Council (PAC), which puts together the top brains of our people in Zimbabwe as well as top brains outside Zimbabwe,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Zanu PF leader said from his PAC and the on-going dialogue, he was expecting to get the much-needed global acceptance for a better Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to leapfrog in terms of development to catch up with other developing countries,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Contacted for comment, Chamisa yesterday referred questions to his spokesperson, Nkululeko Sibanda.<\/p>\n
\u201cTalk to my spokesperson, I don\u2019t want to be drawn into such issues,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Sibanda said Mnangagwa was \u201cmischaracterising\u201d Chamisa.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the real Satan is the one who has blood in his hands, the blood of more than 20 000 people in Matabeleland, the blood of people in DRC [the Democratic Republic of Congo],\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut president Chamisa would not want to engage himself in this kind of politics. We hope that Mnangagwa will grow up one day and show maturity. He must be a Statesman and show maturity and not this kind of insults and demeaning statements. It is unfortunate.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has described his political arch-rival and opposition MDC leader Nelson Chamisa as a \u201crebel\u201d, just like the biblical Satan who could not co-exist with God in heaven. Addressing journalists at the closing ceremony of the Zimbabwe-South Africa Bi-National Commission Summit attended by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in Harare yesterday, Mnangagwa said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":1348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8,35,12],"tags":[113,224,88,31,149],"class_list":{"0":"post-5512","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-head-lines","9":"category-homepage-english","10":"category-policy","11":"tag-chamisa","12":"tag-council","13":"tag-mdc","14":"tag-mnangagwa","15":"tag-president"},"yoast_head":"\n