“We now have a dysfunctional state, made worse by a crisis of
illegitimacy, and in desperate need for re-engagement with the international
community. This re-engagement grows more remote by the day with reports of
gross human rights proliferating, prompting some to term these crimes against
humanity,” argued Ibbo Mandaza and Tony Reeler.
It should be stated here that Zimbabwe is a dysfunctional state because
it is a de facto one-party dictatorship in which the ruling party Zanu PF has
carte blanche powers to blatantly rig elections and to use state institutions
to impose its rule on a cowed nation.
38 years of misrule by the incompetent, corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF
dictatorship has landed the nation into this economic mess. Unemployment has
soared to 90%, 3/4 of the population are so poor many are dying of want of
clean drinking water, food, medicine, etc. The economic situation in Zimbabwe
is dire and in need of urgent resolution.
It is obvious the present dysfunctional state will never provide the way
out of the economic mess and it is equally obvious that economic situation
cannot be allowed to continue. The dysfunctional state must go and this cannot
be done quickly enough given the country’s worsening economic situation.
Mandaza and Reeler are suggesting the dysfunctional state should be
replaced by a National Transition Authority (NTA). Whether or not the NTA will
be any better than the dysfunctional state we have will depend on what kind of
animal this authority is going to be. The devil is in the detail!
“It seems obvious in all the discussion about a national dialogue that
there must be an end goal. In the current crisis, a national dialogue cannot be
merely a talk shop. All who are talking about the national dialogue clearly are
thinking about a process that resolves the legitimacy crisis, initiates a
substantial process of reforms, and takes the country through to an undisputed
election,” continued Mandaza.
“The Zimbabwean NTA does not have to produce a constitution as part of
its work. Zimbabwe has a highly operable constitution, a sitting parliament,
and a functioning judicial system. Since all these are in place, there will be
no need for complex negotiations about a constitution and the nature of the
state.
“The legal basis for the NTA will require the suspension of Chapter 5
(Parts 1 & 2) and its replacement by a schedule outlining the powers of a
Transitional Executive Council (TEC). This TEC would be time-limited, but,
given the depth of the problems facing Zimbabwe, would probably need at least
two years in order to implement the reforms, and a "rescue package"
to take effect.”
There are many glaring flaws in this argument are here are just some of
the flaws.
1) The legitimacy crisis
arise out the election process was not free, fair and credible. 3 millions
Zimbabweans in the diaspora were denied the vote. There is overwhelming
evidence that many rural voters were coerced to vote for the ruling party, as
Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission stated in its report. ZEC failed to produce a
verified voters’ roll although this is a legal requirement. ZEC’s vote tallies
could not be traced or verified because some on the V11 forms, the summary of
vote count at the polling station, were never released although this too was a
legal requirement; etc. Given all these flaws and illegalities it is therefore
nonsensical to claim such an illegal and meaningless process can ever produce a
legal result!
2) It is not only
Mnangagwa, the executive leg of this regime, that is illegitimate, the MPs and
Senators too are illegitimate. Chamisa is cherry picking, he is dismissing
ZEC’s result of the presidential race but accepts the parliamentary result
although both were affected by the same flaws and illegalities noted in 1)
above. Indeed, Chamisa even have the guile to argue the nation should accept
him as the winner of the presidential race regardless of the whole process
being illegitimate. Proof, if any was still required that all MDC Alliance does
not care about ending Zimbabwe’s dysfunctional political system and all they
care about is power, just like Zanu PF.
3) The legal
justification for the NTA is that the present government is illegitimate as
Zanu PF has no democratic mandate to govern. The constitution never envisaged a
flawed and illegal election process resulting in an illegitimate government. We
can either pretend the elections were free, fair and credible and continued to
have rigged elections and dysfunctional government or bite the bullet and
accept we have an illegitimate government and appoint an NTA tasked to
implement the reforms designed to end the curse of rigged elections. After 38
years of rigged elections, the choice is obviously to bite the bullet and
finally end this elections charade and madness.
4) The on-going
inter-party dialogue is clearly a waste of time as it is premised on
Mnangagwa’s demand that all the participants accept him as the legitimately
elected president with the legal mandate to govern. So not even Mandaza’s
proposed TEC cannot be discussed in the context of the present inter-party
dialogue.
5) Even if Mnangagwa was
to be pressure to step down and the TEC was formed, it is naive to expect a
Zanu PF dominated parliament, senate, judiciary, etc. with a sprinkling of
corrupt and incompetent MDC Alliance leaders to accomplish anything of
substance.
6) Zimbabwe’s current
constitution is weak and feeble and the reason it has failed to deliver the individual
democratic freedoms and rights. Paul Mangwana, the Zanu PF co-chairperson of
the parliamentary committee tasked to draft the new constitution boasted that
Mugabe “dictated” the new documented and it shows. The task of dismantling the
de facto one-party dictatorship is much more that “realigning existing laws to
the new constitution” as MDC leaders claim.
7) Zanu PF and MDC GNU
of 2008 to 2013 failed to accomplish anything of substance, we must have the
courage to come up with a new solution that will deliver the changes we are
look for.
8) Zanu PF rigged last
July’s elections we must admit that and say so. Zanu PF has no mandate to
government and must step down, that is not negotiable. We need Zanu PF to clear
the democratic space for a fully-fledged NTA with executive and legislative
powers to change the constitution and restructure the judiciary, ZEC, etc. that
too is not negotiable. After 38 years of letting Zanu PF rig elections and get
away with it to appease the party thugs we owe it to the long suffering
ordinary Zimbabweans to finally do the right thing; restore the rule of law and
end the curse of rigged elections.
Here we go again, instead of proposing a solution you are just recycling the same nonsense meant to appease Zanu PF than get the nation out of the mess.
ReplyDeleteIf you think your Transition Executive Council will even implement anything with a Zanu PF majority in parliament and senate and a corrupt to the core judiciary then you are really naive. The National Transition Authority must has executive powers and legislative powers too and must be able to restructure the judiciary, police and all the other state institutions if it is ever going to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship and replace it with a functional democracy.
It is not only Mnangagwa who is illegitimate, the whole regime is illegitimate. The whole electoral process was flawed and illegal and that affected the parliamentary result as well as the presidential one.
We owe the long suffering masses of Zimbabwe a way out of this mess and not to be betraying them by seeking to appease Zanu PF.
In interviews this week, high ranking diplomatic sources in the capital and South Africa, said Mnangagwa is unlikely to get away with murder the third time around, following the shock military shootings in August 2018 and just two months ago, that have left a swathe of terror and at least 17 extrajudicial killings, 16 rapes, 26 abductions and more than 600 assaults, according to the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum.
ReplyDeleteThe envoys said although the UN has no standing peacekeeping force ready to be deployed, one Western powerhouse (name supplied) said to be "sympathetic with the people of Zimbabwe" and appalled by Harare's worsening violation of human rights "together with the increased militarisation of government", is reportedly willing to take up the mission and is working on asking the Security Council to approve the intervention of the multinational force operating under Chapter VII authority.
Chapter VII of the United Nation's Charter sets out the UN Security Council's powers to maintain peace.
It is a great pity that the UN has done nothing throughout all the last 38 years to stop Zanu PF corrupt and tyrannical rule destroying the nation’s economy and political system landing the nation in this mess.
@ Conway
ReplyDelete“The worst-kept secret is out that the United States is determined to see the Zimbabwean government fall – just as it is doing in Venezuela. And denying that is like denying one's existence itself,” you say.
The worst kept secret is that it is sanctions that are responsible for Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown. The real causes are gross mismanagement and rampant corruption.
In 2016 Mugabe admitted that the country was losing a staggering $15 billion in lost diamond revenue because of corruption. As we all know, no one has ever been arrested and the looting is still going on right now.
The Zanu PF regime and its apologists have used sanctions as the excuse for the regime’s failure to end mismanagement and corruption.
The regime has failed to attract investors. “Zimbabwe is open for business!” has had no takers. Investors do not do business is a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs!