In the Movie “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” there is a scene where Jack Sparrow tells the young Will Turner “Stay here! And please don’t do anything stupid!” Pretty damn good advice one should give to our Dr Masimba Mavaza for his stupidity, as expressed in his articles, knows no bonds!
“The problem of judges playing to the gallery is that they will expose the law to ridicule. The situation in South Africa has pitted the judicial system against the democracy and political system,” charged Dr Mavaza.
“It is indeed a shame on the South African Constitutional Court judges for failure to understand their own supreme law. They ignored their own constitution just because they want to fix and not to help. It is a wonder that when the constitutional court set they forgot to be guided by the law and by their own constitution.”
He was commenting on the sentencing of Former President Jacob Zuma to 15 months in jail for contempt of court by SA Constitutional Court. The former president has not been cooperating with the court’s investigation into his corrupt charges and abuse of office.
Jacob Zuma was forced to step down as president in February 2014 when his own party ANC threatened to have him impeached. It is right and proper that the courts have since pursued the corruption charges against with due diligence and thus reaffirming the fundament principle that no one, not even a former state president is above the law.
One has to plough through a lot of rubbish before finally arriving at it is Mavaza’s found objectionable about the court judgement in this case.
“But in this case the constitutional judges have acted to settle scores,” he argued.
“In this case one would ask how can a Constitutional Court convict and sentence an individual to prison as a court of first instance and leave the accused person without a right to appeal? This question is the reason of all the uproar in South Africa today.”
Of course, this is just Mavaza making a mountain out of a mole hill! The Constitutional Court is the supreme court in the land and, per se, there is no other court to appealing its judgement. Mavaza and the overzealous Zuma supporters who have been holding public demonstrations and even threatening to “shut down South Africa” would not be pacified even if Zuma was allowed to appeal against the court’s judgement; it is the very idea of Zuma being held to accountable in a court of law that they find unpalatable!
“What we see in South Africa now are lessons to be learnt and a stark warning to Zimbabwe. What happens there will happen to our revolutionary stalwarts once they leave office. The judiciary is behaving as the avengers sent by the disgruntled colonialists cum Westerners. This is legal system at war with the executive,” wrote Mavaza. The title of the article was “When The Judiciary Abuses The Liberators: Revolution Under Attack The Zuma Debacle”.
Thank God South Africans have never allowed themselves to be swayed by the foolish notion revolutionary stalwarts are special and therefore above the law. The country’s democratic constitution has delivered on its promise to protect the freedoms and rights of the citizens; keeping the checks and balance between the three arms of government, the executive, judiciary and legislature; etc.; and long may this continue. The same cannot be said about Zimbabwe.
Mavaza should know Zanu PF ruling elite will never ever being brought before a court of law to account for their amassed wealth, rigging elections, staging military coups, Gukurahundi massacre, etc., etc. At least, not in any of Zimbabwe’s courts as the judiciary, like all the other state institutions in the country are Zanu PF departments in all but name. High Court Justice George Chiweshe ruled the 2017 military coup was “legal, justified and constitutional”; just to underline how utterly useless and “capture” the courts are.
The root cause of Zimbabwe economic meltdown and political paralysis is the 41 years of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and rank lawlessness earning the country the Banana Republic and pariah state status. The country is in economic ruins, 49% of the population now live in abject poverty, basic services such as education and health care have collapsed, etc. The economic and social situation is simple unbearable and the demand for meaningful change, for a competent and accountable government, is now political reality that Zanu PF cannot ignore.
Change is coming and the day Zanu PF’s ruling elite will be brought before the court of law to account for their past is nigh upon us. Like it or not Zanu PF's ruling elite will be asked to account for their past.
“Judiciary abuse liberator, Zuma; stark warning for Zanu PF” – indeed, for no one is above the law! The suggestion that liberation war heroes are above the law is foolish and the reason why Zimbabwe is in a mess!
There is no one with a working brain who would deny that corruption is one of the worst challenges to befall Africa particularly countries like Zimbabwe where there is no rule of law. Indeed, corruption and lawlessness are twins born of the same mother and father. Dr Mavaza does not deny that Zuma defied court orders his argument is that because he is a liberation war hero, he should be above the law.
ReplyDeleteMavaza's argument that the Courts are after Zuma to settle a score at the instigation of the white colonialist and Westerners is bull shit to please the anti-white constituency. The Western nations themselves value rule of law and no one is above the law as such leaders as Donald Trump learned the hard way. We are to believe the West is seeking to punish Africa by encouraging our Courts to enforce similar standards.
We are to believe that stopping corruption and the criminal waste of human and material resources associated with it is something the ordinary person should object to.
I totally agree, the stupidity of Dr Mavaza knows no bonds. Here we are trying to rescue the nation from tragic consequences of 41 years of corrupt and tyrannical misrule and we have village idiots like Mavaza fighting tooth and nail to retain the dictatorship and drag the nation deeper and deeper into this hell-on-earth.
@ Dube
ReplyDelete“Zuma and all the ANC chaps are not holy, including the late Mandela. What is at issue or at play here is whether Zuma is being treated fairly in comparison with others! A number of apartheid criminals were not prosecuted under Mandela, Thabo Mbeki, Msholozi himself and still are not under Cyril. Some of those apartheid criminals who were prosecuted had the state paying for their defence prosecutions and yet none is paid for a freedom fighter like JZ. Many ANC leaders receive and treat De Klerk better than Msholozi. The attitude of many south Africans towards De Klerk is better than towards JZ, including journalists who are at the forefront of stratcom media onslaught on JZ. They are comfortable around De Klerk. They respect De Klerk and his apartheid apparatchiks and apartheid state capturists than they respect JZ.”
Rubbish! What is at issue here is whether or not South Africa subscribe to one of the most important tenets of good governance and rule of law – NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW!
If many other ANC leaders, De Klerk and many other individuals are as corrupt as Zuma or worse have been allowed to get away with their criminal activities then this was a serious mistake by society and every effort must be made to put this right. To argue that the nation must let Zuma off the hook because others were allowed to get away with their criminal activities is the most foolish course of action the nation can take because everyone else will want to be treated the same way.
Corruption will destroy SA’s economy as surely as it has destroyed Zimbabwe’s economy and only a village idiot would freely choose to go down this path! In Zimbabwe, our priority is to restore the rule of law and make sure the country’s ruling elite are held to account; they will have to explain how the amassed their wealth and if they fail, will forfeit it and worse!
No one is above the law, not even in a lawless pariah state like Zimbabwe because Zimbabwe is not going to remain a pariah state forever.
Former President Jacob Zuma will not be going to jail any time soon – after the Constitutional Court agreed to hear his application for a rescission of its contempt ruling against him.
ReplyDeleteIn directions issued one day after Zuma launched urgent legal action to undo the contempt finding made against him or plead for a lesser sentence than the 15 months he currently faces, the Constitutional Court agreed that it would hear his rescission application on 12 July.
Jacob Zuma is facing more serious charges against than contempt of court and it makes a lot sense for the court to be flexible over the less charge if he is now going to cooperate in the investigation over the corruption charges!
You can take some one out of the ghetto but it much more difficult to take the self-loathing ghetto mentality out of the person; in the case of Dr Masimba Mavaza, difficult is more like impossible!
ReplyDeleteThis Jacob Zuma story is about four very closely related things; corruption, rule of law, how to stamp out corruption and the consequences of failing to stamp out corruption. It is no secret that one of the root causes of Africa’s backwardness is the criminal waste of human and material resources because of rampant corruption. One does not need a University degree to understand that Africa’s failure to enforce the rule of law has allowed corruption to grow and spread.
In Zimbabwe corruption has now become a rampant cancer, the country’s education and health care services have all but collapse after decades of being starved of funds and yet the country is losing US$1.2 billion per year in smuggled gold alone. One would think all Zimbabweans with half a brain will all be united in demanding the rule of law as the only sure way to cure ourselves of this cancer!
To argue that in seeking to enforce the rule of law in this case, the courts were “abusing liberators and pursuing the colonialists and western agenda” only goes to show just how shallow minded Mavaza is. No one is above the law in the West and hence the reason why such problems as corruption are nipped in the bud have very rarely grown out of proportion. Mavaza is asking us to reject the principle of no one is above the law, he wants liberation war heroes to be above the law, for no better reason than that the principle is a western idea.
Mavaza is in UK, far from the madness in Zimbabwe; and, I am sure, has already had his two corona virus jabs, he did not mind one bit that this is a western solution. But is up in arms against enforcing rule of law in Africa for the sake of protecting liberators from being held to account for their actions even when failing to do so has proven a tragic disaster for the nation! And he not only has a University degree but a PhD! Here is someone with no common sense and incapable of any rational thinking!
@ Mavaza
ReplyDelete“It is un Swazi to publicly attack the authority of the king.
The kingdom of eSwatini is one of the world's last remaining absolute monarchies. The king rules by decree over his million subjects, most of whom live in the countryside and follow traditional ways of life.”
King Mswati III is not only an absolute monarch who has ruled by decree but has creamed off the nation’s wealth to pay for his and bloated harem’s lavish lifestyle whilst the majority of the people live in abject poverty. The political system was clearly unsustainable, one cannot expect the people to suffer in silence forever. The king was warned of the need to implement meaningful change including democratic reforms to give all the citizens a meaningful say in the governance of the country but he would not listen. The violent uprising is the answer to his stubborn refusal to accept orderly change.
The tragedy here is that the violence in eSwatini is not only destroying property, livelihood, human injuries and lives but worse still may result in long term chaos in that country. This could all have been avoided if the stubborn as a mule king had listened!
Zimbabwe is heading the same way as eSwatini, for we too have our own stubborn mules. The 2017 military coup had been long overdue after 37 years of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship. And, since that coup failed to end the corruption and tyranny, we can be certain another violent event, military and/or street protest, is coming and this time there may well be a lot of gnashing of teeth and bloodshed!
@ Nomazulu
ReplyDelete“DD told ZimRights to "stop at once opening old wounds and digging graves of Gukurahundi past". If that is not painful enough, inconceivable how the region was able to comprehend this statement coming from a decorated Zipra Supremo. When DD was in the government of Zanu he was not helpful to the region of Matabeleland. We need to know what the former Minister Dabengwa told the British government when he was invited by the UK government to inform them first-hand about Gukurahundi atrocities. Before we start heaping unprintable insults on Gutu, can we smell our armpits and acknowledge the pungent smells coming from ourselves. His meeting with the UK government was never published in Zimbabwean news.
During the time DD was Minister, he had no time for people of his region. He feared Zanu, we took it that it was the trauma he suffered when he was in prison at Chikurubi Maximum Prison. We can only speculate that what he said to the British Government was not in the interest of the people of Matabeleland and the victims of genocide. This cannot be water under the bridge by any stretch of anyone's imagination. There are several people in the region of Matabeleland who have evidence of Zapu leaders to messed up the genocide historicity of the 1983 – 1987 out of fear of Mugabe regime. DD found his voice to talk about Gukurahundi heavily criticizing Zanu later when Zanu had jettisoned him out of the party and government.
Sure, I was one of the Zapu members in the UK who resuscitated new Zapu party in 2009 inadvertently rehabilitating Dabengwa who had been humiliated by Robert Mugabe: Mugabe a man who has no permanent friends but permanent interest. Dabengwa lost elections in Nkulumane constituency, Zanu could not keep a failed politician, he was discarded in Zanu style. If Zanu is done with you, it does not keep you but jettison you. DD was bitter, only then did he start to criticize Zanu as perpetrator of genocide; DD languished in prison for 5 years on trumped up charges of arms catches
Another insightful article, thank you!
In this Gukurahundi saga, Obert Gutu is just a nobody compared to DD and to pretend otherwise is just absurd!
ReplyDeleteMavaza you are a twat would who escaped the madness of Zanu PF corruption and tyrannical rule and, for your own selfish economic and political reasons has been cheering and applauding the Zanu PF misrule. You have chosen to see good things in the country even when there are not there!
ReplyDeleteZimbabwe is a Banana Republic, a pariah state, in which corruption, mismanagement and lawlessness rule the roost; it is impossible to do business in such a country and hence the reason the country’s economic has all but collapsed.
In 1980 Zimbabwe had household companies like Meikles, NRZ, ZESA, etc.; very productive agricultural sector that not only produced enough to feed the nation but was the breadbasket of the region; etc. These companies, farms, etc., did not need capital or ideas; they were very successful in their own right already. 41 years of rampant corruption and mismanagement have sucked the life out of even the most resilient of all these economic giants. And into this hell-on-earth you think anyone armed with a good idea will succeed regardless the criminal waste of human and material resource by the Zanu PF ruling elite.
“Every great business wasn't started with money but ideas!” You are just a village idiot, a twat, with the gift of the gab who is always defending the Zanu PF regime, always defending the indefensible!
The double tragedy for Zimbabwe is that the nation has had the great misfortune to find itself in the vice-grip of the Zanu PF thugs and that the country has more than its fair share of twats like you Mavaza who are working tireless to help keep Zanu PF in power! One of these fine days the nation will price itself free from the Zanu PF tyrants and you and your Zanu PF masters will have to account for your past. The wheels of justice move very slowly but, trust me, they move!
"Every Zimbabwean can be rich!" And so, the 49% of Zimbabweans now living in abject poverty are doing so because they are chosen to be poor!