Source: Richard Chidza, NewsDay
AMID building pressure on President Robert Mugabe’s government a group of technocrats have come together to demand the formation of a transitional authority to steer the country’s administration towards democratic reforms.
The Platform of Concerned Citizens (PCC) “is a group of like-minded Zimbabweans” who on Saturday said they have been meeting since October last year.
Fronted by academic Ibbo Mandaza, Thoko Matshe and Tony Reeler, among others, the group issued a statement warning the country was on the verge of implosion.
The emergence of the PCC came hard on the heels of growing unrest, intermittent protests by civic groups and the recent rejection of Mugabe’s leadership by veterans of the country’s liberation struggle, events that have turned Zimbabwe into a political pressure cooker.
According to the statement issued following a meeting in Harare on Saturday, the PCC said elections under the current environment would be a waste of time, while a coalition government by elected parties will not help matters either.
“We are of the opinion that no election in the current political climate, whether called early or in 2018, can resolve the deep structural deficits in the state; and, in any event, no election without considerable reform of the State and the creation of a level playing field, can possibly lead to a legitimate outcome,” the PCC said in a statement signed by 25 well-known personalities including media mogul Trevor Ncube, Trevor Maisiri and human rights campaigner Brian Kagoro.
“The lessons of the GPA (Global Political Agreement) and the inclusive government (between 2009-2013) are fresh in the minds of all, and the absences of any genuine will to reform, the State doomed that initiative. In particular, and in the polarised nation that is Zimbabwe, we believe that no substantial reform of State institutions will be possible when one party owns the allegiance of all State institutions.”
Two opposition parties, the People’s Democratic Party and the MDC-T have also called for a national transitional authority to map the country’s future.
The PCC said it noted the recent statement by former freedom fighters, “but succession merely changes the players within parties or the government”.
It added: “Thus, we are of the view that only a national transitional authority, underwritten by the citizenry, the churches, the civics and the political parties, will be able to lead us through a period of key reform and economic stabilisation to genuine elections, and finally a legitimate government”.
Source: NewsDay