If you see a log drifting in glass-still
waters then it bespeaks of the strong undercurrents or worse, it is a sinister
crocodile stalking. Or, as one would say in Shona, “Ukaona vakuru
vachipopotedza nembudzi dzarwa, ziva kuti panezvirevo!” (When adults quarrel
over fighting goats, you can bet there are grave matters fuelling the quarrel!)
There is no denying that Constitutional
Amendments Bill No 1 and 2 will help Mnangagwa consolidated his dictatorial
powers. Of course, they will! The scrapping of the presidential running mate
clause and the taking away the power to appoint judges from the public to give
them to the State President, for example. This will make the VP and the judges
beholden to the State President and thus compromising their independence and impartiality.
The new powers given to the State
President in these amendments will undermine two key tenets for a healthy and
functioning democratic constitution and society. Number One, there must be
separation of powers between the four arms of government, the executive, legislature,
judiciary and, most important of all, the people, the public, povo whose
interests above all else the first three swear to serve.
The people exercise their power over the executive
and legislative arms by forcing office bearers to compete for their vote and
the ultimate public censure is to be booted out of office. The mandate to
govern must be derives from the people through the holding of regular free, fair
and credible elections.
A compromised judiciary, for example, may
rule and election process free, fair and credible and declare the winners of
the flawed and illegal elections “dually elected”. The vote rigging regime may
claim it is the legitimate government; the reality is, it is not. There are
illegitimate regimes just as there are false prophets! The Mnangagwa and his Zanu
PF regime is illegitimate; will come back to this below.
The number two tenet the two amendments
are undermining is for each of the four arms of government to carry out its
core function of being an effective check and balance against the one
dominating and riding roughshod over the others the independence of each is
sacrosanct. A lot of power is already invested in the executive and it is no
surprise that it is the State President’s excesses and abuse of power that must
be guarded against the most.
The root cause of Zimbabwe’s economic
meltdown and political paralysis (exemplified by having a corrupt, incompetent
and tyrannical ruling party, Zanu PF, and an equally corrupt, incompetent and
utterly useless MDC opposition) is country’s failure to remove Zanu PF from
office. For the late 41 years and counting, Zanu PF has usurped the people’s
power to a meaningful say in the governance of the country and rigged elections
to impose itself on the nation. Four decades of gross mismanagement, rampant
corruption and rank lawlessness have left the country in economic ruins and
political chaos.
The people of Zimbabwe saw the March 2013
constitution as the answer to their prayers for democratic change to end the
Zanu PF dictatorship. Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends assured the long-suffering
Zimbabweans the new constitution was an “MDC child” and would restore all their
freedoms and rights including the right to free and fair elections and the
right to life itself.
The people’s eight kilometres Mount
Everest peak of hope and expectation as the gave the new constitution 94%
approval in the March 2013 referendum was quickly followed by the eight
kilometres plunge in the dark and cold abyss of mid Pacific Ocean rift when
they realised Zanu PF had, as usual, blatantly rigged the 2013 elections!
MDC leaders changed the narrative, the
new constitution is still “one of the most democratic constitution in the world”,
they argued what was required was to reform existing institutions and laws to
align them to the new constitution. “Reform” became the new buzz word and to
underline the importance of reforms MDC passed a 2014 party congress resolution
not to participate in future elections until the reforms are implemented. “No
reform, no elections!”
MDC leaders abandoned their “No reform,
no elections” by claiming they have devised “Win In Rigged Election (WIRE)
strategies. All hen’s teeth tales which the naïve, gullible and, by now,
desperate public believed only for Zanu PF to blatantly rig the 2018 elections
sending the nation plunging even deeper into the crash abyss!
That the 2018 elections, like all the
other elections before, were rigged is not an opinion but a matter of historic
fact.
“The (Zimbabwe) electoral commission
(ZEC) lacked full independence and appeared to not always act in an impartial
manner. The final results as announced by the Electoral Commission contained
numerous errors and lacked adequate traceability, transparency and
verifiability,” stated the EU Election Observer Mission final report.
“As such, many aspects of the 2018
elections in Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards.”
Could not trace or verify anything because
ZEC failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll, a legal
and common-sense requirement (one that did not require any reform)!
The only rational reason why MDC and the
rest in the opposition camp have been participating in these flawed and illegal
elections is they are after the few gravy train seats Zanu PF gives away as
bait and a share of the annual Political Party Finance Act pay out. By
participating the opposition give the vote rigging Zanu PF some modicum of
political legitimacy.
Zanu PF was able to blatantly rig the
elections because the March 2013 constitution is weak and by participating in
flawed elections the opposition has only made a bad situation worse. ZEC’s
failure to ensure the elections were free, fair and credible is proof the
judiciary is not independent and therefore cannot be trusted to provide the
check and balance to the executive.
Mnangagwa controls the Zanu PF vote
rigging juggernaut and he saw to it that the party had 2/3 majority in
parliament and in the senate. The elected party officials know they owe their
positions to Mnangagwa and not the ordinary Zimbabweans and hence voted to pass
the two amendments because that is what he wanted.
So given Zimbabwe is a Banana Republic
with a weak and feeble constitution and a State President with carte blanche
dictatorial powers to rig elections and has all but captured the legislature,
judiciary, security services, etc. Granting himself more dictatorial powers by
extending the tenure of office of just one of his captive judges is small
potato. The whole nation is up in arms against it because the nation is up in
arms against the curse of rigged elections – the sinister stalking crocodile!
There has been “floodgate of litigation”,
as Tendai Biti put it, to challenge the passage of the two constitutional
amendments. As long as the challenges question the power and authority of the Zimbabwe
parliament, judiciary, etc. to amend the constitution the courts will find no
fault. The question that should and must be asked is the legitimacy of
Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF regime given the July 2018 elections were NOT free,
fair and credible!
Zimbabwe is gearing for the 2023
elections. The nation must have a floodgate of litigation to ensure Zimbabweans
in the diaspora have the vote, ZEC produces a verified voters’ roll, state
resources are not abused for selfish political gain, billions of dollars of
looted wealth are not bankrolling the Zanu PF vote rigging juggernaut, etc.,
etc. The 2023 elections must be free, fair and credible!
The nation must lookout for the sell-out
opposition opportunists who will participate in the flawed elections and give
the vote rigging Zanu PF the modicum of legitimacy.
If Zanu PF cannot deliver free, fair and
credible elections then we must demand that the elections are declared null and
void and we find others who will implement the reforms and deliver free and
fair elections.
The extending of Chief Justice Luke
Malaba’s tenure of office will give Mnangagwa additional dictatorial powers but
there is no denying he is a dictator already and enjoying vast dictatorial powers.
We must focus on taking away all his dictatorial powers and not just the
additional powers.
A captured Chief Justice and judiciary is dangerous, however it is but symptomatic of the powerful and deadly Zanu PF dictatorship riding roughshod over all of us, denying us our freedoms and rights including the right to free and fair elections and even the right to life!
The former deputy Prime Minister said Mwonzora was a true appendage of Zanu PF.
ReplyDelete“The Zanu-PF created outfit – MDC T is both inept and intellectually bankrupt. They have no social base,” said Mutambara.
“However, it is instructive to note that the differences between the MDC-A and MDC-T can only be settled by a national election. Will MDC-T keep those ill-gotten Mps?’, he said
The tragedy here is that Zimbabwe to avoid being sucked into yet another meaningless election just to settle the nonsense which of the two MDC factions is more popular with the MDC wildebeest herd. We know that the most foolish thing we can do is participate in the flawed elections will give legitimacy to the vote rigging Zanu PF. Of course, Zanu PF will be pleased to get another five years legitimacy and will not care which MDC faction they have to deal with.
It is not surprising that Arthur Mutambara does not understand the folly of the opposition are the ones keeping Zanu PF in power. After all, Mutambara was at the heart of the MDC leadership that failed to implement even one meaningful reform during the GUN. The village idiot has never apologized for the blatant betrayal of the nation!
@ Leonard Koni
ReplyDelete“The recent appointment of controversial Delish Nguwaya at AAG is a very sad development in the history of fighting corruption. Even those who thought President Emmerson Mnangagwa was serious in fighting graft are burying their heads in sand.
It looks like the Affirmative Action Group is a recently overhauled machine to fund, sponsor and oil the 2023 harmonised election. It is a vital cog meant to drive the mission of Zanu PF not the whole country.
The controversy is beyond imagination. Last year after being arrested for corruption charges involving Covid19 US$60 million PPE supply scandal, Nguwaya has miraculously landed a top post and escaping a jail term by a whisker.”
Zimbabweans are very naïve and gullible people, they will stubbornly refuse to see what a mountain of evidence before them. They would close their eyes and, like a baby, if they do not see anything then it must because it is not there.
Emmerson Mnangagwa, like Robert Mugabe before him, was never going to end corruption in Zimbabwe because Zimbabwe’s ruling elite are the Godfathers of corruption, they are one and the same ugly monster and he is one of them. He would not be president of the Banana Republic of Zimbabwe without the help of Godfathers of corruption.
Mugabe made the mistake of trying to muscle out most of the Joint Operation Command (JOC) out of power. JOC is the Junta composed of the top brass in the security services plus a few from Zanu PF headed by Mugabe with Mnangagwa as his assistant, it is the real power behind the throne in Zimbabwe. It was a risky move that always going to end in tears and blood shed as the Junta members fought back staging the November 2017 military coup d’état.
“Operation Restore Legacy”, as the coup plotters called the November 2017 coup, was about restoring power to the Junta who are the Godfathers of corruption because they believe as the one enjoying absolute power they are entitled to the choice cuts in all the nation’s wealth!
If Mnangagwa was to, in any way, attempt to rein in the Junta, they will reactivate Operation Restore Legacy and this time the emissaries send to accomplish the “military assisted transition” will have the AK47 rifle and a very titchy finger!
To still be talking of Mnangagwa ending corruption is therefore naïve, to say the least!
@Mbofana
ReplyDelete“This triggered an unsurprising, but worrying, angry tirade by the Zimbabwe regime, through its justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi, who - much to the bemusement of many - accused the judiciary of much the same things as the MDC Alliance had done, apparently forgetting his own previous self-conceited advice to the opposition to accept court verdicts, and cease labeling the judiciary as "captured", only when they had lost a case.
Like a child who has been denied his favorite toy, he went all out in a seemingly rage-filled, and clearly unprofessional, vitriolic tantrum - characterized by the usual unsubstantiated allegations of "regime change agendas" by "foreign forces", who sought to tarnish and "destabilize the Second Republic" - and, with reckless abandon, appeared to smear the entire judiciary with the same brush of "conspirators", who were "anti-Mnangagwa", for "continuing to make decisions that are against the government".”
We should not be surprise at the regime’s reaction, Zanu PF thugs believe they have the divine right to rule Zimbabwe as they and they alone see fit. Of course, the regime has the judiciary, Police, public media, etc. all captured. Still it is angry to have lost this case even on a matter that is blatantly obvious the regime was wrong because it does not like giving even an inch.
The really worry here is that many people are viewing the judgement as proof they have dismantled the dictatorship, proof the corrupt and incompetent opposition which gave Zanu PF legitimacy by participating in flawed elections is doing a good job.
The judgement to stop Malaba’s appointment annoyed Mnangagwa but it is naïve to think that was enough to knock out the dictator. And if we participate in the 2023 elections with no reforms we will only be shooting ourselves in the foot by giving the vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy!
Minister Ziyambi questioned why Justice Zhou refused to recuse himself from presiding over the case following an application by one of the respondents pleading for his recusal arguing that he was conflicted. He said the speed at which the court heard the matter puts into question the motives behind the application.
ReplyDelete"We do not understand how the Honourable Justice Zhou insisted on proceeding with the matter after we sought his recusal because he is clearly conflicted. We are also at a loss as to how the Honourable Judge president of the High Court was excluded from being cited in the litigation which included all Judges of the High Court who have acted in the Supreme and Constitutional Courts. We are further alarmed that these proceedings went on through the night up to midnight. This is a typical case of a night court, consisting of night judges and night lawyers.
"One issue that is worrying which even the most basic layman would want to know is that the Judges appear to base their decision on the interpretation that is given to Section 328 (7) of the Constitution and the new section 186 (4) of the Constitution but surprisingly, the interpretation of the provisions was not before them, and secondly, the institutions that put into effect these provisions, that is Parliament and the President, were not cited in this application — how do they make such a decision without the benefit of having heard the side of Parliament and President who legislated these provisions? How does the Judiciary turn itself into an Executive and Legislature at the same time?"
He said Government was aware of multi-lateral and foreign organisations who have poured money through the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights to capture various state institutions and to destabilise the Government. The country, said Minister Ziyambi, risked falling into the trap of judicial capture.
"I want to make it clear today that we do not accept the decision of the High Court. We have a serious situation of a Judiciary that has been captured by foreign forces in this country," he said.
Meanwhile, the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has appointed Justice Gwaunza acting Chief Justice pending appeal.
ReplyDeleteIn 2014 Didymus Mutasa, Rugare Gumbo, Joice Mujuru and others threatened to challenge their dismissal as Zanu PF members. “In whose courts?” boasted Robert Mugabe underlining the reality on the ground – Zimbabwe’s courts are his courts!
The March 2013 constitution was not the democratic constitution Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC leaders claimed it to be. Zanu PF have all but captured the judiciary as with other state institutions like the Police, Army, Public media, etc. and the principal task of the 2008 GNU was to implement the raft of democratic reforms and draft a new democratic constitution designed to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship. Sadly, this did not happen. Zanu PF emerged out of the GNU with all its dictatorial powers intact.
Tendai Biti and others would like to great victory against the dictatorship. The reality is it is a minor setback because the regime have the judiciary captured and will appoint another judge who will do its bidding. We are still stuck with a regime with dictatorial powers!
Tendai Biti and his MDC friends sold-out in failing to implement the democratic reforms and drafting a democratic constitution during the GNU. They have compounded the situation by giving legitimacy to the vote rigging Zanu PF by participating in flawed and illegal elections. They are gearing to participating in the 2023 elections and would give this court ruling as proof of the opposition’s relevance and effectiveness.
What we need is to dismantle the dictatorship and we clearly do not do that by giving the vote rigging regime legitimacy. Tendai Biti and company know that, they are participating in flawed and illegal elections not to dismantle Zanu PF but to win the few gravy train seat Zanu PF is offering to entice the opposition to participate. We, the people, should open our eyes and see Tendai Biti and his MDC friends for the corrupt, incompetent and sell-outs they are.
The only way to force Zanu PF to change is by refusing to participate in flawed and illegal elections. Yes, it is that simple!
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa has said the country's vision of achieving an upper middle-income economy by 2030 is on course and the private sector should continue to complement Government efforts to revive the economy.
ReplyDeleteSince he came into power in 2017, the President has been on a mission to rebuild the economy in line with Vision 2030. Various projects, most funded locally and backed by sound policies, have taken shape, showing the commitment by the Second Republic to improve the lives of the people
This is a regime that will never admit it has failed because it believes it has the divine right to govern Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe is a Banana Republic, a pariah state, ruled by corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs who rig elections to stay in power. As long as the country remains a pariah state there will be no meaningful economic recovery this vision 2030 is just a mirage, one of the many the country has been chasing these last 41 years.
@ Nomazulu
ReplyDelete“We have been saying time and again that these numerous Mthwakazi parties are a group of young boys who do not have the slightest idea about the past liberation war. Reading the daily news in social media, we are informed about several incidences remarkably interesting to note. The fighting's among several Mthwakazi parties has surfaced, followed by inner-party leadership fighting's. there are so many of the Mthwakazi parties today, it is not clear which one is fighting who from the numerous groupings. I should be excused if I said there is an invincible force, a larger hand in this chaos.
Two weeks ago we read about the chaos in Guduza's Mthwakazi MLO. This was followed by, yet another Mthwakazi party called MRP that dissolved the leadership to accommodate fresh elections that were overdue. The disquiet in the leadership dissolving exercise was evident in the media, telling us not all is well. We could count and come up with a decent number of seven Mthwakazi political parties alone in a region that has 5 million population. We have parties in the region calling themselves with different names but Mthwakazi name remains as the identity: have the same common denominator, the Matabeleland cessation from the mainland Zimbabwe. Freedom from oppressive Zanu and Mashonaland is what binds all of them.
Thembani Dube's article of yesterday was provoking thoughts: The title of the article was: "The Fifth Columnists in Matabeleland". His most charged article exposes the tiff among the Mthwakazi parties in the region including his own party. He names rog elements to be Demi Gods, Tatalagu Hopeists, The Nomadic Fulanists, Extremist Saboteurs, Nguni extremists. Are these groups part of the Mthwakazi parties already existing together with the kingdoms? The article does not make it clear. Thembani Dube is deeply concerned about some radical, sadistic elements in Matabeleland region "with much reckless pomp and show" multiplying at a fast rate. These are groupings posing a serious threat to this region.”
There is a real danger of some people dragging the nation into a totally pointless conflict the same way Mugabe dragged the nation into the Gukurahundi massacre. It is ironic that these people are using Gukurahundi as their excuse.
When Zimbabwe finally get rid of the Zanu PF dictatorship the country will have its work cut out rebuilding the economy and society from the ruins left by Zanu PF. The last thing the country wants is waste time much less human lives waging a futile tribal/regional war! It is very sad indeed that we have some people who are hell-bend on dragging us into conflict.
Zimbabwe's judiciary is captured, like many other state institutions such as the Police, Army, Public media, etc. and hence the reason the nation has failed to hold free, fair and credible elections. It is not that the many Zimbabweans who have welcomed the judgement blocking Malaba's appointment object to him serving for one more day because he is old, they do not want him and they would have grabbed at any excuse available.
ReplyDeleteIn the run-up to drafting the new constitution the nation had a fixation with putting an age limit to the state president as a way of stopping of forcing Mugabe to retire. The truth is the could not get rid of the dictator through free elections because Zanu PF rigged elections and so having the age limit was one way and they grabbed it.
It is sad that the nation is now having to rely on a technically to end Malaba's stay in office as Chief Justice when they should be relying on competent and accountable legislature and executive and healthy democratic system of government to make sure the country had competent judges.
This is just bombastic nonsense, what the nation has learned to expect from Professor Arthur Mutambara. Zimbabwe is a pariah state, was a pariah state during Mugabe's days and that is why the 2017 military coup happened. It had been on the cards for decades.
ReplyDeleteMnangagwa is doing the same things that Mugabe was doing and thus confirming the status of the country has not change; Zimbabwe is still a pariah state and therefore it is nonsense to say Mnangagwa is coup proofing the regime by making it a pariah state!