Biti vows "a floodgate of litigation to protect Constitution" - excuse for participating in yet another flawed election P Guramatunhu

 

There are many reasons why Zimbabwe is in this serious economic and political mess and many of them dovetail to the nation’s inability and/or disrespect for truth, facts and reality; especially the country’s leaders.

"The fight for protection and defence of our Constitution has become the defining fight of the present. There will be a floodgate of litigation which ought to be complemented by peaceful civic action," threaten MDC A VP, Tendai Biti.

He was adding his voice to the chorus of many other Zimbabweans who have condemned the passing into law of Constitution Amendment Bill No 2. Tendai Biti, as with all the others, have conveniently ignored the facts for the purpose of pushing their agenda of brainwashing the populous for selfish political gain.

The single most important fact that cannot be ignored is that no constitution written by mere mortals CANNOT be amended by mortals. Why? Because mortals are per se fallible and to abrogate such authority as to impose a law onto others has the arrogance of one who believes is infallible. And so, we can state here and now that the March 2013 Zimbabwe constitution can be amended.

The Constitution itself has laid down the process that must be followed to amend the constitution and to on that list is the requirement that 2/3 majority in both parliament and senate must approve the amendment.

There may be other technicalities that the Zanu PF regime failed to follow in pushing through this amendment but these should not detract anyone from the key point that Zanu PF has the Constitutional power and authority to amend the March 2013 Constitution.

Tendai Biti has argued that the Amendments will give President Mnangagwa dictatorial powers and no one can, in all honest, dispute. But again one must seek guidance on this from the constitution itself. There is no chapter or clause in the March 2013 Constitution that explicitly says no one can amend the constitution to enhance or undermine the balance of power between one arm of government against the other or undermine usurp the people’s freedoms and rights. One can argue that such a clause should have been there but we are concerned about facts and reality here, that section is not there.

One inherent self-protecting mechanism in a good and well written constitution is that it should stop the election of tyrants into power and/or stop them destroying the constitution by imposing a cooling off period between passing the amendment and it being enforced.

Amendment Bill No 2 was signed into law 7 May 2021 and a week later President Mnangagwa exercises the new power granted to him in the Bill – extent the term of office of Chief Justice Luke Malaba beyond his retirement age of 70 years. Of course, it leaves a very bitter taste in one’s mouth particularly when it was the same Judge who has given some treasonous judgement to benefit Mnangagwa.

There is no deny that the July 2018 elections were flawed and illegal and should have been declared null and void. ZEC, the body appointed by law to preside over the organisation and delivery of a free, fair and credible election process not only failed to produce a verified voters’ roll but failed to produce all the V11 forms, the summary of the vote count from each of the Polling Station, on which the presidential race result was based.

ZEC staff were supposed to preside at each and every Polling Station and were responsible to the safe keeping of all materials relating to the election process. ZEC affidavit submitted to the Constitution Court showed 10% of V11 forms were missing and so 10% of the figures used in the presidential vote count could not be traced or verified. This was the reason why ZEC could not reconcile the tallies from the three counting systems; each must have received different figures from the missing V11 forms.

Of course, the July 2018 elections were rigged but Chief Justice Luke Malaba ignored the facts, truth and reality on the ground and declare the process free, fair and credible and Mnangagwa the duly elected State President of the (Banana) Republic of Zimbabwe. And now the State President of the Banana Republic has just amended the Constitution to ensure the Chief Justice keeps his job, no doubt there are many other dirty jobs for him to do!

You scratch my back and I will scratch yours! It is all so comradery and congenial as one would expect in a Banana Republic and so it is because, like it or not, Zimbabwe is a Banana Republic complete with its weak and feeble March 2013 Constitution.

“There will be a floodgate of litigation which ought to be complemented by peaceful civic action!” Will the flood of litigation transform a weak and feeble Constitution into one that will stop rigged elections? No!

The flood of litigation will the judge by the same corrupt and compromised Judiciary that judged the November military coup “legal, justified and constitutional”! Can we realistically expect the judges to be anything else other than corrupt and compromised? No!

Even if Tendai Biti was to name his own judges to preside over the flood of litigation; as long as they are there to judge on the legality of the process followed in passing the Amendment Bill No 2, they will find no fault. The fault is not with the Amendment process but with the weak Constitution that allowed Zanu PF to rig elections in the first place.

Tendai Biti was a senior MDC member in the 2008 to 2013 GNU that failed to implement even one meaningful reform and drafted the weak and feeble March 2013 Constitution. To make matters worse the MDC leaders have participating in the flawed elections giving legitimacy to the vote rigging Zanu PF because they were after the few gravy train seats Zanu PF has been giving away as bait.

Biti could not resist the enticing promise winning a seat of the gravy train, the call of the wild, and is one of the MDC who has participated in the flawed elections at every opportunity. Today, he is the Right Honourable Tendai Biti, MDC A MP for Harare East. Of course, he is positioning himself to participate in the 2023 elections and the flood of litigations will help keep his name on the public eye and thus enhance his chance of winning one of the few gravy train seats the opposition have to share.

Tendai Biti and his MDC friends, from both the Chamisa led faction and Mwonzora led faction, are all gearing to participate in the 2023 elections knowing fully well that participating will give the vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy and thus perpetuate the corrupt and tyrannical rule. Tendai Biti Nelson Chamisa and the rest in the MDC A faction have their excuse for participating and will con the Zimbabwe populous to join them - they will be stop Zanu PF and his newly found stooges, Mwonzora and company, desecrating the sacred March 2013 Constitution!

The floodgate of litigation is be, ostensibly, to Amendment Bill No 2 becoming law and to there will be no more amendments. In reality, the floodgate of litigations, if there are any at all, will be as futile as Chamisa’s challenge of the July 2018 presidential result. The whole hoo-ha is cast MDC A leaders as the heroes of the long suffering masses of Zimbabwe when they are as guilty as Mwonzora and company of selling out to Zanu PF.

The people’s willingness to believe whatever the leaders tell them, no questions asked, has allowed the leaders to tell one hen’s teeth tale after another and get away with the consequences every time. There is no excuse for participating in the 2023 elections without first implementing the reforms but we can be certain stopping Zanu PF amending the constitution is one of many to follow!