By Paidashe Mandivengerei

HARARE: A contender for the presidency has hit out at President Emmerson Mnangagwa and MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa for failing to attend a leaders’ indaba held in the capital this Thursday.

A multi-party leaders and citizens ‘interface’ organised by the Catholic Church’s Silveira House was held Arrupe Jesuit University in the capital’s Mt Pleasant suburb.

Just 13 of the 23 presidential candidates managed to attend the event with leading contenders Mnangagwa and Chamisa prioritising campaign rallies instead.

Mnangagwa addressed a rally in Kadoma while Chamisa made two stops at Kariba and Karoi.

The duo’s absence rankled with National Alliance Patriotic and Democratic Republicans (NADPR) leader Divine Mhambi Hove.

“They make noise, they give us hope but when we gather like this to shape the future of our country, they are not there,” said lamented Hove. 

The 40-year-old NADPR founder told the audience that Chamisa and Mnangagwa had proved they did not deserve voter’s support by missing the event.

“If I could vote now, I know who not to choose,” he said.

Hove acknowledged that he is unlikely to win the crunch July 30 elections, but insisted that what was important to him is the platform that he had as a presidential candidate.

“I believe I will not make it,” he asserted.

Joice Mujuru of the People’s Rainbow Coalition (PRC), Nkosana Moyo of the Alliance for People’s Agenda (APA), Violet Mariyacha of United Democratic Movement (UDM) and 10 other candidates attended the event and signed a peace covenant.