Zimbabwean small political parties want inclusion in talks
By Wilson Watson
HARARE, Zimbabwe- While the entire nation was this week saluting Zanu-PF and the two MDC factions for setting the agenda of the talks, Dr Simba Makoni and other minority parties were instead mourning their exclusion from the process.
Dr. Makoni, the third-placed candidate in the first round presidential vote in March, hit out at his exclusion from talks aimed at ending the country’s challenges.
I cannot explain my absence from that signing ceremony,” he told South African public radio, claiming “many Zimbabweans” believed his movement should have a role in both the current talks and the future of the country.
“I feel it is sad that we are not involved at this stage. But this is only the beginning, there is more to come and we believe that we will make our contribution in that more to come.”
Leader of the United People’s Party Daniel Shumba — whose nomination papers to contest in the March presidential election were rejected by the Nomination Court — demanded that he be included in the talks between the ruling Zanu-PF and the two opposition MDC formations.
Addressing journalists in Harare on Wednesday, Shumba claimed other political parties were being sidelined saying the talks should include all political parties even when his and Makoni’s party do not have single seats in Parliament.•