By Bulawayo Correspondent
THE majority of Zimbabweans has no faith in the Political Actors’ Dialogue (Polad) arrangement, and instead prefer an all-inclusive dialogue as a way of uniting the polarised nation, the latest Afrobarometer survey has revealed.
Polad, which was set up by President Emmerson Mnangagwa soon after controversially winning the 2018 presidential election, is comprised of leaders of fringe political parties which participated in the elections.
The main opposition MDC Allaince leader, Nelson Chamisa refused to join the platform saying it has no relevance.
Chamisa’s stance seems to be supported by the majority of Zimbabweans if the recent survey results conducted by the Mass Public Opinion Institute (MPOI) on behalf of Afrobarometer are anything to go by.
According to the survey‘s results, about 73% of Zimbabweans are anti Polad.
“A new Afrobarometer survey shows that most Zimbabweans think that national dialogue process should go beyond political parties and include participation by other stakeholders, including businesses, churches and civil society. But only about one in four citizens endorse Polad framework as the only viable option for bringing stability and development to Zimbabwe , while almost half of citizens do not offer an opinion on the Polad framework,” the survey report reads.
The survey findings noted that the call for an inclusive national dialoque process is more pronounced among rural residents and men.
“The call for an inclusive national dialoque process is more prevalent among rural residents (76%) than urbanites (68%) and among men (78%) than women (68%). It is also more common among MDC-Chamisa’s supporters (85%) than among Zanu PF adherents (67%),” the survey noted.
Only 28% of the respondents say the Polad framework is the only option for bringing about national stability and development in the country.
“Almost as many 23% disagree with this assertion while almost half 47% refused to answer the questions,” the survey further revealed.
Afrobarometer is a pan-African, non-partisan survey research network that provides reliable data on African experiences and evaluations of democracy, governance and quality of life.
