dialoguing process involving three stages namely; the consultation stage, conferencing stage and the implementation stage. Consultations- involve gathering local level citizens’ views with the objective of identifying key dialoguing issues. This stage assists in setting the agenda for national dialogue. Generally, focus group discussions, and interviews from diverse socio-economic and political groups are carried out as part of the consultation processes. The Zimbabwean National Dialogue missed this stage as both President Mnangagwa and Nelson Chamisa have conceptualised national dialogue within the context of disputed elections and inter-party dialogue. No community level consultations were made to establish a grassroots informed national dialogue framework. Inclusive dialogues (consultations) promote public support and enhance bottom-up buy-in from diverse sectors. Conferencing -involves middle level engagements such as regional and national level engagements. The conferencing processes are meant to refine issues gathered from grassroots consultations and to develop possible policy options and implementation mechanisms. The Zimbabwean National Dialogue could still meet this stage’s expectations although the central ingredient was been obfuscated by political dialoguing without the broader national stakeholders. Implementation – involves putting into action the agreed actions with political will being the key ingredient. When implementing agreed positions from a national dialogue, it is pertinent to adhere 4