FORTHRIGHT Zanu PF politburo member Tshinga Dube, pictured, says only political dialogue among stakeholders will move Zimbabwe forward in terms of economic and political progress.
Speaking to the Daily News in an interview at the weekend, Dube said political bickering was the country’s biggest undoing.
“Dialogue is important because, like I have always pointed out, I love to see peace and people to move together towards establishing a strong country.
“Political bickering and fighting each other has never bailed us out in any way,” Dube said.
The ruling party stalwart said while elections were an important democratic tenet, they would not solve the country’s decades-long myriad economic and political challenges.
The assertion comes as the country is set to hold the much-awaited by-elections on March 26 to fill for 100 vacant local government and parliamentary seats.
It also comes as the country is fast approaching general elections in 2023, which are set to further put a strain on the fiscus.
Dube said, far from being a panacea to the country’s challenges, elections were a curse as they gobble millions of dollars, leaving the economy bleeding.
“In my personal opinion, I have always been very skeptical about elections, but there is no time when you can say, it’s the right time for elections.
“This is because I am more concerned about the economy than politics. Though we are all embraced in politics, to me our economy is my major concern,” Dube said.
“As a result I don’t think elections can resolve the country’s problems, especially looking at where we are coming from.
“Elections are guzzlers of money, money which could be used for something else in developing the economy.”
In December last year, while giving oral evidence before Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) acting chief elections officer Jane Chigiji said they had requested from Finance minister Mthuli Ncube $23 billion, but only got $11 billion from the 2022 national Budget.