HARARE – A national political dialogue initiated by President Emmerson Mnangagwa with opposition rivals has suffered another blow after the Nkosana Moyo-led Alliance for the People’s Agenda pulled out on Monday, accusing the Zanu PF leader of insincerity.

APA is the latest party to pull out, joining the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) on the sidelines.

The dialogue is designed to find a common solution to Zimbabwe’s political and economic crisis, which have their genesis in a disputed election narrowly won by Mnangagwa in July last year.

The MDC and others, including Joice Mujuru’s National People’s Party and Noah Manyika’s Build Zimbabwe Alliance, have demanded an impartial, outside convenor of the dialogue, which they argue should be guaranteed by international bodies like the African Union and the United Nations.

APA, in a statement, said it had participated in the process after witnessing “two rounds of state sponsored violence in which dozens of Zimbabweans died and thousands more suffered grievous injuries in their homes.”

“We believed that… it was time to help stop any further rounds of madness,” APA said referring to the post-election killing of six people by the military last August, and a further 17 during fuel protests in January this year.

But the party said it had “observed with dismay” comments by Mnangagwa at a recent “thank you rally” in Masvingo where he “spoke in the most unpresidential manner… amongst other things he bragged about having deployed the army that as we know killed people.”

“More worryingly, he threatened that anyone who according to him engaged in any acts of disorderliness would have their lives shortened… We do not feel that it is appropriate for the President or anyone to threaten people with death,” APA said.

APA said at its first meeting with Mnangagwa, it had proposed that the dialogue should be widened to include churches, labour, business and civil society organisations.

APA added: “On the basis of national representation, if the dialogue is restricted to political parties, then it should be obvious that a minimum number of Zanu PF and MDC officials should be present.

“If the idea of a national dialogue is to try and bring the nation to a place of cohesion, then it should be self-evident that a platform that excludes either Zanu PF or MDC cannot be considered a serious undertaking towards creating national cohesion.”

APA said after initially taking “Mnangagwa’s word in terms of intent”, subsequent events have left the party feeling that the Zanu PF leader and his government are “not serious and sincere about national dialogue.”

“Sadly, the actions on the ground leave us no option other than to withdraw our participation,” APA said.