Saturday 18 June 2016

Zanu PF align 159 laws including NERA - Tsvangirai has no excuse but guarantee free elections by Wilbert Mukori


Be careful what you wish for!

Instead of calling for the structural democratic reforms of the security services, media, ZEC, etc. as agreed in the 2008 GPA,  the opposition parties, especially MDC-T and all the other 14 parties who signed-on to its National Electoral Reforms Agenda (NERA) insisted the aligning the existing laws to the new constitution was adequate. We now learn that the government has completed its work and aligned most of the existing laws.

“Out of the 299 Statutes in our books, we have so far aligned 159 statutes. We have identified about 200 Statutes requiring alignment and out of that number, 159 have been completed and processed through this House, through the General Laws Amendment Bill and other independent Statutes," VP Emmerson Mnangagwa told the Senate.

"The ones that have not been processed are from line ministries where Ministers have not been able to process in time the areas of their concern or mandate. However, with regards to such alignment relating to the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, the Government or the Executive directly, that has been completed."

It is now for Signor Morgan Tsvangirai et al to now go through the aligned laws and confirm two things:

  1. That the alignment is correct and in accordance with the word and spirit of the new constitution. If not, the nation expects him and his team to propose the amendments.
     
  2. To confirm that the alignments, complete with his amendments, will now deliver the free, fair and credible elections; free of all manner of abuse of state resources including looted wealth such as Marange diamond, free of all manner of vote rigging trickery and free of all manner of intimidation, coercion and violence; we have all been waiting for all these years.

Given the importance of free, fair and credible elections and how time is no longer on our side, it is two years to the next elections; it is our fervent hope that the Monsignor will respond to the two pints above in the next month, two months at most!

The reader is advised not to hold their breath; Signor Tsvangirai and his MDC friends are breathtakingly corrupt and incompetent.

They wasted five years of the GNU writing a feeble and weak new constitution and completely ignored the calls to implement the democratic reforms agreed in the GPA, they maintained that the new constitution strong and adequate to guarantee free, fair and credible elections. Mugabe went on to blatantly rig the 2013 elections and MDC leaders, to the man and woman, have since admitted the elections were rigged.

But instead of admitting the new constitution is weak and thus reverts back to the structural reforms called for in the GPA reform MDC has insisted aligning all the existing laws to the new constitution will be enough to stop Mugabe and Zanu PF rigging future elections. Just as MDC had wasted five years during the GNU on the new constitution which failed to stop vote rigging, history is repeating itself, they have wasted the last three years demanding electoral law alignments which too will not stop vote rigging.

Veritas, a local Zimbabwean think tank on legal matters has gone through all the proposed alignments of existing laws and said even if they were all implemented fully this will not deliver free and fair elections as these are “inadequate and incomplete”. The problem is with the new constitution it is weak, feeble, inadequate, incomplete, pick your pick!

“Zimbabwe also needs a new constitution. It must be the genuine product of a national dialogue that embodies our hopes and aspirations, unconstrained by our fears; it must be founded on a strong Bill of Rights, and elicit the best in us,” said Trevor Ncube the executive chairman of Alpha Media Holdings - publishers of the NewsDay, Zimbabwe Independent and the Standard.

“The current document is the outcome of horse-trading between Zanu-PF and the two MDC factions. It fails to lay a strong foundation of the rule of law, strong national institutions, transparency and accountability. And, of course, the sanctity of life and respect for private property must find full expression.”

It was because MDC leaders are corrupt and incompetent, breathtakingly so, that they failed to implement even one GPA reform during the GNU and instead of producing a democratic constitution produced a weak and feeble one that will never deliver free, fair and credible elections because it gives Mugabe dictatorial powers with none of the usual democratic checks and balance.

Still Signor Tsvangirai has been strutting around demanding the alignment of the existing laws, his wish has been granted now can he assure the nation of free and fair elections or was he being his usual self – Signor windbag making a lot of noise!  

If we want free, fair and credible elections in 2018 then it is up to us, the people, not the corrupt and incompetent opposition politicians, to demand the full implementation of the GPA reforms. The country is now in hell-hole and will only get out when we have a good and competent government which means free and fair elections.

5 comments:

  1. As the nation sinks deeper and deeper into the economic and political hell-on-earth Mugabe has dragged us into it will start to sink in even in the most dimwit MDC supporters what a heavy price the nation has had to pay for MDC's sell-out. We would not be in this hell is MDC leaders had implemented the reforms. Until the reforms are finally implemented and we are out of the hell people will always remember who sold-out.

    Morgan Tsvangirai has kept the $4 million Highlands mansion, the most valuable piece in his bribe price from President Mugabe but even he will soon start regretting whether the long suffering of millions of fellow Zimbabwe and, no doubt thousands will lose their lives in the coming years as a result of the misrule by this tyrannical regime, was really worth bribe.

    The alignments VP Mnangagwa has done will not change anything substantive but it is good to put Tsvangirai on the cosh, let us hear from him whether the alignments are all he was ask-ing for and if not what else does he want. If the new constitution is indeed as strong as he says it is then it must now finally deliver the free and fair elections.

    Of course Tsvangirai is "a flawed and indecisive character" as USA Ambassador Chris Dell pointed out way back in 2004; the people of Zimbabwe have been slow to see this but the suffering they are going through is forcing many to open their eyes and see the real Tsvangirai!

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    1. If anyone had bothered to pay attention, it was clear that the new constitution was too weak and feeble to deliver free and fair elections and therefore the nation should have just rejected it in the March 2013 referendum. After Mugabe blatantly rigged the 2013 elections alarm bells should have started ringing in the heads of all those who had foolishly believe MDC's claim that the elections would not be rigged.

      Only a dimwit would believe MDC again that whatever twitting Mnangagwa has done to the existing laws would be enough to stop Zanu PF rigging the next elections. Mnangagwa, of all people, will know Zanu PF will never win free and fair elections and you have to be really naive to believe, that he would knowingly change the law so that he loses the next elections! This is really pushing it, only a first class idiot would believe such a supposition!

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  2. @ Milton

    I have pointed out in great detail what is wrong with the new constitution thousands of times; you can search for my past articles on this site and many other Zimbabwean internet site. You can also go to zimbabwelight.blogspot.co.uk or zimbabawesocialdemocrats.blogspot.co.uk where you will find even more articles.

    Since you have asked, I will tell you one area where the new constitution is weak and feeble. The new constitution allows the state president alone to hire and fire the top brass in the Police, CIO, Army, ZEC, etc. It does not matter how incompetent and corrupt the Police Commission or ZEC Officials should turn out to be parliament or any other body cannot demand an explanation from Chihuri or Makarau much less have them dismissed.

    In other words the new constitutions grants the state president excessive dictatorial powers with none of the checks and balances. There is no democratic constitution in the world that does that!

    Tsvangirai and his MDC friends campaigned for a yes vote in the March 2013 referendum on the new constitution on the basis and promise that it would deliver free, fair and credible elections. Some of us pointed out that the new constitution would not deliver free and fair elections because it is weak and that is why we demanded the implementation of the democratic reforms agreed in the GPA.

    Long behold Mugabe did rig the July 2013 as anyone with any brain had predicted. MDC said the elections were rigged not because the new constitution is weak but because Zanu PF did not align the electoral laws before the July 2013 elections. Well Zanu PF has now aligned existing laws to the new constitution.

    Let me tell you here and now that the next elections will still not be free, fair and credible because aligning the existing laws to a weak and feeble constitution does not change the fundamental that it is weak and feeble. The new constitution failed to stop Zanu PF rigging the 2013 elections because it is weak and feeble it will not stop Zanu PF rigging the 2018 elections for the same reason. MDC’s explanation that the existing laws needed aligning is just a weak and feeble excuse.

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    1. I think Zimbabwe would be better off today if the vote was not granted to every Jokoniya and Tambudzai; at least not without explaining to them the duties and obligations that comes with this right and the dangers that can befall the whole nation if the right to vote is abused.

      We have unscrupulous politicians like Mugabe, Tsvangirai, etc. who have built their political careers on the knowledge that the country has a large pool of naive and gullible voters and have set out to exploit this. There have been few occasions when Zanu PF and MDC have cooperated and worked as one and one of these occasions is keeping the electorate naive and gullible.

      Ever since the country attained its independence Zanu PF has moved swiftly to ensure its had total control of the media and the people were kept ignorant and free flow of information and ideas were a no, no!

      People thought the formation of the GNU in 2008 would change that and free the media, sadly that was not to be. MDC has turned out to be secretive as Zanu PF for the same reasons, if you are corrupt and incompetent you do not want a free press.

      Of course, you have pointed out what is wrong with the new constitution a thousand times and so has many others; you can do so again a million times and there will still be millions of voters out there with no clue what you are talking about. They did not have a clue what the new constitution was about when they voted to approve it in the March 2013 referendum they still do not have a clue what it is about today and therefore cannot judge whether it is good or bad.

      If they do not know what free and fair elections are how then can they say whether the new constitution has been able to deliver free and fair elections? Everything is a mystery to Jokoniya and Tambudzai and corrupt and incompetent politicians like Tsvangirai are cashing in because they will never tire of telling Jokoniya and Tanbudzai the new constitution is a master piece and offer a multitude of other feeble excuses why Zanu PF continues to blatantly rig elections - the naive and gullible electorate will swallow the excuses regardless how feeble because they know nothing!

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  3. @dabrother

    I am sure MDC will be here, blundering from pillar to post, even if Tsvangirai was to drop dead today as he will as we all will since we are all mortals. By the same token Zanu PF will still be here looting, rigging elections and terrorizing the nation even if Mugabe dropped dead today as he too will.

    Grace Mugabe she has now got so used to the extravagant lifestyle of flying to the Far East at the drop of hat to do her shopping, her health checks, delivery of her grandson, etc.; at the cost of $3 million a trip, she knows she will be forced to forgo all that if she was no longer First Lady. Hence the reason she has fought hard to succeed her husband. When the door was slammed shut in her face now she wants him to rule from behind the grave! The poor woman is hallucinating of course.

    Zimbabwe will have free, fair and credible elections which we all know Mugabe can never win. As for him ruling from behind the grave that will not happen even if Zanu PF rigs the next elections!

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