Before
independence it was common to hear of a white farmer beating up his black
worker, tie him up with a rope and drag him around in his vehicle. The worker would
die of his injuries. The court would fail to convict the white farmer of any
crime “for lack of evidence”. The Police would have seen to it that the poor
worker was buried complete with all the incriminating evidence, no post-mortem
report, no witnesses, etc. The Judges would make heavy weather of the lack of
evidence, although they could have easily demanded that the body to be exhumed,
etc. They were playing their assigned role to perfection.
Some
things have changed in independence Zimbabwe others have not changed. Instead
of the white colonial oppressors we got the Zanu PF ruling elite instead. The
game of those in positions of power and authority committing serious crimes and
the State Institutions rallying to hide the evidence and pervert the course of
justice has continued and the victims of the injustice – the powerless and
voiceless black majority - too have not change.
What
took place in our Con-Court on 25 August 2018 is nothing short of an
re-enactment of the white farm vs black worker during the days of Ian Smith or
be it the victim of the injustice was all the millions of ordinary Zimbabweans
who continued to be denied their right to a free, fair and credible vote!
Let
me say it up front, loud and clear as a church bell rung in the quite morning;
the 2018 Zimbabwe elections were rigged.
“If
the elections were rigged, then produce the evidence. MDC Alliance leader,
Nelson Chamisa, challenged the election results claiming the elections were
rigged but failed to produce the evidence in the Con-Court!” President
Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF supporters and apologist will argue.
Nelson
Chamisa and his fellow opposition friends were advised on the futility of
contesting these elections without first making sure the democratic reforms
necessary to stop Zanu PF rigging the election. Sadly they paid no heed to the
warning. It was insane to go into these elections without something as basic as
a clean and verified voters’ roll. Insane! And yet this is exactly what
happened.
There
were glaring irregularities such as ZEC’s failure to produce a clean and
verified voters’ roll, the ballots cast in the presidential race exceeding
those in the parliamentary race (the law stipulates that ZEC must keep a record
of voters who take one ballot but not the other – which they did not), voting
patterns that would suggest multiple voting, etc.
The
Con-Court judges acknowledged the irregularities but would not take the sworn
evidence of the applicant, ZEC, etc. as permissible because there was no
collaborating evidence from the sealed ballot boxes. Chamisa never requested the
sealed ballot boxes to be opened and so all the other evidence was of no consequence.
“The
best evidence in this instance would have been the contents of the ballot box
themselves; that is the primary source evidence. Evidence of the contents of
the ballot boxes compared to the announcements by the electoral commission, and
the evidence within the applicant’s own knowledge, would have given the court a
clear picture of any electoral malpractices, if any had occurred,” argued Con-Court
Chief Justice Luke Malaba in his judgement.
“No such proof was adduced by the applicant to support his
allegations. The electoral law is designed to protect the vote. The protection
of the ballot cast by every single citizen who participated in the election is
fundamental.
“It is the one that the court should guard jealously.”
What
nonsense. This is the equivalent of the Judge in the white farmer case refusing
to exhume the murdered work out of respect of the dead. Surely the dead will be
served best by the truth being uncovered and justice served.
How is
Con-Court protecting the citizen’s right to free, fair and credible elections
by aiding and abating those denying the people that right by making sure the
evidence of vote rigging remain buried!
“In
terms of section 93 subsection 4 sub-paragraph (a) of the Constitution,
Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa is duly declared the winner of Presidential
elections held on the 30th of July 2018,” concluded Chief Justice Malaba.
Justice
Malaba, it is the interests of the ruling elite and not the common man and
woman that you and your fellow Con-Court judges are guarding jealously! Zanu PF
blatantly rigged last month’s elections and justice was not served by making
sure the conclusive evidence of vote rigging was buried.
In my view justice is service if it achieves the following:
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2) rewards and protect those who keep the law and punish those breaking the law
3) protect the weak from being exploited by the strong and power
4) and most important of all, protect the commonwealth interests
In their foolish judgement, Con-Court Judges failed to protect the commonwealth interest of making sure the elections were free, fair and credible, the basis of a stable and competent government. Zimbabwe is in this economic mess and political paralysis precisely because the country has failed to hold free, fair and credible elections.
Even if the Con-Court had ordered the sealed ballot boxes to be opened and found nothing to suggest the elections had been rigged, justice would have been served by lifting the doubt that is there now because we do not know what is in the boxes.
There is no doubt that the Con-Court did not want the boxes opened no more that the judge in the white farmer's case wanted the grave opened. Each knew there was incriminating evidence that would have made it impossible for them not to condemn the strong and powerful!
I think you would agree that oppression is like a headache what brought it on will never be more important as the pain itself or make it any less a pain!
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