The Chairman of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) resigns in frustration over the Commission’s ineffectiveness.
“As a national human rights institution the commission must be independent and properly capacitated.” Prof Austin cited sections of the ZHRC Act and electoral laws that he said impinged on the commission’s work.
In a country used to Police Officers turning a blind eye to violence and thuggery as long as it is Zanu PF carrying out the violations; it is universally accept Zanu PF leaders and supporters are above the law. In a country where Judges routinely refuse bail to none Zanu PF supporters arrested on tramped up charges for months on end but Zanu PF murderers go free; reaffirming that Zanu PF are above the law.
In a country with more President, Vice Presidents, Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Ministers, Ministers, Governors, etc. all costing the impoverished nation a fortune but all doing nothing; they are all in it for the gravy train ride. It is the unwritten but nonetheless universal acknowledge gravy train rule that one should enjoy the benefits of office and say nothing about its relevance, etc. Kudya unyerere!
Look at PM Tsvangirai and his MDC friends they took to gravy train ethos like ducks to water. For the last four and half years the PM has been globe-trotting, chasing women, everything except what the nation elected him to do like implement the democratic reforms, etc.!
It is completely refreshing that someone should resign and refuse to be part of Mugabe’s elaborate façade to hide a totally dysfunctional, corrupt and oppressive autocratic regime. Thank you Professor Austin. Thank you!
11 comments:
@Musekwiwa
We are talking about free and fair elections here, who said anything about the land?
The ZHRC was one of the many commissions set up since 2008 in response to the crying need for democratic reforms. The ZHRC like all the other commissions and the GNU itself is to be a toothless dog to guard against certain criminal activities but trained to ignore the individuals committing the crimes. Of course, it is useless and no one was fooled!
The resignation of Professor Austin underlines the total ineffectiveness of ZHRC and all the other similarly constituted Commissions underlining the lie that the coming elections will be free and fair. The public facade Mugabe has built in peeling off unmasking the ugly dictatorship he was hiding behind it. The wheels are falling off the gravy train. The centre cannot hold; things fall apart!
2013 is the year the long oppressed people of Zimbabwe will finally have all their basic and fundamental rights denied them all these years finally restored. You, Mugabe and the rest of this dictatorship can curse and swear all you want that is not going to stop the freedom train. It is unstoppable!
@Chimbwido
Even your handlers in Chibuku House must be shaking the heads in disbelief at the sheer stupidity of your postings Chimbwido.
Professor Austin said he resigned because the ZHRC was ineffective and sited the reasons why it was ineffective. As the dictatorship's paid defender one expected you to deny the ZHRC was ineffective and give the usual excuses. You have clearly accepted the reasons why the Commission is ineffective and thus accepted that any principled individual would have no alternative but to resign. For you to then castigate the individual as unfit to "be champion of human and civil rights" flies in the face of logic.
In a way you are right: Mugabe and Zanu PF are known for appointing poachers as game-keepers and criminals and murderers to be Police Commissioners. Still you are paid to pretender the murderers are honest outstanding citizens and not to make the fallacious argument that murderers make the best law enforcing officers!
This story exposes not just Mugabe's insincerity to democratic reform and creating an atmosphere for free and fair elections but just how Tsvangirai is ill qualified to be counterpoise to Mugabe.
Mugabe is the author of this ruthless dictatorship and whilst the GPA called for democratic reforms the tyrant’s position in all this was to be the spoiler, to do everything in his power to ensure none of the reforms are implemented in any meaningful way to.
It was Tsvangirai’s responsibility to make sure the democratic reforms were fully implemented and the set objective of delivering free and fair elections is achieved in word and spirit and on time to make a real difference long before the elections.
The ZHRC was one such key body to and yet Tsvangirai approved the setup and the operation of this commission which Professor Austin now tell us is not fit for purpose. Of course Tsvangirai should have been the first to condemn this commission but clearly he was not aware that anything amiss. Another key area the reform was the media; Mugabe has set up all manner of Boards and Councils which have done nothing to create the free press and freedom of expression. Once again Tsvangirai has failed to stop Mugabe to do as he pleases.
Professor Austin resigned because ZHRC is a useless body. Zimbabweans must fire the men and women who failed to ensure ZHRC was a useful and effective body. It was a big mistake to have believed Tsvangirai and MDC would bring democratic change and it is folly to still believed them in the face of some many failures and blunders!
@ Churucheminzwa
The GNU was tasked to carry out the reforms and write a democratic constitution so there can be free and fair elections. Sadly the dysfunctional GNU has failed to deliver after its full five years life span. It is pointless extending the GNU's worthless existence because they will never deliver and in any case the last thing one should do is reward these fat cats for wasting the nation's time, money, human suffering and lives and wasted opportunities.
It is completely out of the question that the country should be asked to hold elections without cast iron guarantees they will be free and fair. As long as elections are not free and fair the resultant regime that will emerge will be weak and ineffective at the very best.
Since this dysfunctional GNU has failed to implement the reforms then other people must now be entrusted with the task! We had in the GNU a tyrant and his cabal of ruthless on the one hand and a flawed and indecisive character with his mentally dead followers whose only care was to be on the gravy train. It is little wonder the GNU achieved nothing of note other than drag the nation deeper into this hell-on-earth hole we now find ourselves stuck in. In Mugabe and Tsvangirai we had the worst kind of leaders this nation has ever seen; there are other leaders endowed with common sense at least, if not more.
For the last three decades, Zimbabweans have sought to appease Mugabe and Zanu PF and look where is has landed the nation. Enough is enough! The next elections MUST be free and fair and therefore the agreed reforms MUST be implemented BEFORE elections can be held. There MUST be no compromise, ifs or buts!
@ Chimbwido
The ZHRC should have investigated the all the human rights violations as part and parcel of other activities like security sector reforms to get justice for the victims and to reaffirm that no one is above the law. By resigning from a commission which is weak and feeble Professor Austin is highlighting the need for an effective commission. If that does not show he is interested in human rights, then I do not know what is!
You are angry with Professor Austin because he has exposed the lie that Zimbabwe has a human rights commission that is functional. You are angry that the Professor was principled and not like PM Tsvangirai and his MDC friends who, for the last four years have become as corrupt and useless as Zanu PF leaders!
You are angry because you know this resignation has brought into sharp focus the need for meaningful democratic reforms now the window dressing reforms of the last four years are shown to be nothing but a sham!
You are angry because Professor Austin has exposed Tsvangirai and the rest in MDC to be nothing but Mugabe's poodles. Whilst you and your masters in Chibuku House have relished humiliating Tsvangirai and taking advantage of his stupidity you, nonetheless, do not want him to lose all his credibility at least not before he was secured a YES vote in the referendum.
Mugabe has been counting on Tsvangirai to campaign for Copac draft constitution YES vote for him since it is not practical for him to use violence in a referendum. With every passing day now Tsvangirai will find it harder and harder to hide his own incompetency and downright betrayal of the people and to repeat the lie that the next elections will not be marred by violence.
A NO vote victory in the referendum will throw Mugabe into despair; his reign of terror will over! You are angry with Professor Austin because his resignation gives the NO vote more credibility and momentum at the expense of Tsvangirai and the YES vote. You are angry because you can the days of the dictatorship are numbered and you know there is nothing anyone can do stop regime change!
@Chimbwido
By demanding a strong and independent ZHRC capable of carrying out its function to the millions of victims of human rights violations - 99.9% of whom are blacks - Professor Austin is representing the interest of black Zimbabweans. You trouble is the only black interests you know and care about are the selfish interests of Mugabe and his ruling elite.
The rights of ordinary Zimbabweans to a meaningful say in the governance of the country and their rights to life and more important that Mugabe and his thugs' rights to plunder and murder! You are swimming against the tide and this time you and Mugabe will be swept aside!
@ Chimbwido
I have suffered under this dictatorship all these years but now I can read the writing on the wall; REGIME CHANGE, REGIME CHANGE, everywhere. If I am crying then it is the tears of joy!
You say you are innocent of any human rights violations although on this site you have been the dictatorship's cheerleader. Over 30 000 people were murdered and everyone, even those with murderous weapon in their hands, say they are innocent. That is to be expected. You have the right to remain silent and you are wise to do so. We only need to catch one and, true to the rat culture, he will spill on his mates!
You are right none of this should be Mugabe's problem, at least from now on, because we are getting rid of the tyrant! REGIME CHANGE, remember!
@Yepec
You have been one of the staunchest supporters of MDC’s “incremental change” and “change is a process and not an event” nonsense on this site.
Are you going to sit there and pretend Professor Austin’s resignation has not thrown the cat amongst the pigeons!
When Professor Austin accepted the appointment as Chairman of ZHRC back in 2009 he knew the commission was a weak and feeble body, all part of the gimmick politics of the GNU. The legal and financial constraints he is talking about now are not new they were there all along. His MDC friend(s) who proposed him as member of the commission (I cannot imagine him as a Zanu PF candidate) must have given him a convincing lecture on the merits of incremental change.
After four and half years of endless meetings, workshops, reports which no one bothers to read, recommendations no one takes seriously, promises for government funds which are never honored, etc. Professor Austin’s conscience finally got the better of him. So he resigned.
It is either you deliver the human rights including free and fair elections and the right to life or you do not. What MDC has been doing is appease Mugabe by allowing him to continue denying the people their basic rights whilst telling the nation some nonsense of incremental changes which no one ever defined.
“Motor mouth” MP Monzora has been at great pain to explain how the Copac draft has limited the presidential term to a maximum of two, for example, as if that was the burning issue. At 88 even Mugabe did not have any sleepless night over that one. What the nation wanted to know is since the draft is too weak to stop the political violence what “incremental gains” does it offer. No doubt “Motor mouth” will explain to the victims of political violence and relatives of the murdered should the coming elections be bloody what “incremental gains” Copac brought.
Professor Austin knows the ZHRC is supposed to help end the culture of violence just as much as the Copac draft constitution is supposed to end the dictatorship. He just could not stomach the pretending these things were happening when he knew they were not. He is nothing but the small boy who said the truth everyone else saw but denied.
“The Emperor is naked!” MDC’s “incremental democratic changes,” are nothing but lies!
Minister Sekai Holland in the Ministry of Reconciliation after all that hot air about what her ministry was going to do to rebuild the nation when it was blatantly clear the ministry was a waste of time. After five wasted years she sure looks as foolish as hen that has just laid a square egg!
Professor Austin’s resignation has exposed the sheer hypocrisy of people like Douglas Mwonzora who have wasting five years and nearly US$ 100 million writing this Copac constitution that is not even worth the paper it is written on. He even carried the July draft around as if he was Leonardo De Vinci carrying the Mona Lisa! How pompous and vain!
Prime Minister Tsvangirai, President of MDC, took it upon himself to shout from the rooftops of how this GNU was working; the evidence that it was not is overwhelming. He is the naked Emperor. Fortunately for him; he is not smart enough to realize what a complete fool he has made of himself – being stupid has its advantages too - otherwise he would have died of shame!
@KWV
I agree with you that Mugabe and Zanu PF has failed the nation by denying our people their basic human rights all these years but to blame the tyrant for the lack of progress in restoring these rights is to miss the point.
The only reason why we failed to implement the democratic reforms we all agree are vital for free and fair elections is that PM Tsvangirai and his MDC friends entrusted to push through these reforms failed to do so. Surely you did not expect Mugabe as part to this GNU to push for reforms. He was the spoiler, always throwing spanners in the works, and that is what he has been doing. Sadly for us Tsvangirai has allowed him to get away with it.
Tsvangirai is out there now campaign for a YES vote to endorse the Copac draft which we all know is weak and will never guarantee free and fair elections, will not end of the culture of violence and above all safe guard the right to life itself. If this Copac draft is passed then there is nothing SADC or the international community can do to stop the elections going ahead.
Who are you going to blame for endorsing the Copac draft and thus, by extension, the holding of elections knowing they will not be free and fair? Mugabe? That would be the default “setting” of most Zimbabweans. The truth is if the people know none of the necessary democratic reforms have been carried out and therefore the elections would not be free and fair or to foolishly believe Tsvangirai’s lies and thus voted YES; then they must pay for their folly! Yes they can blame Mugabe, SADC or whoever else they please; that will not change the fact that they made a stupid mistake and they, not Mugabe, etc., will pay for it! That is the point!
@ Savagehunter
Well the same "non-humans" have just written a new constitution for Zimbabwe and in a few weeks time Zimbabweans will be vote to accept or reject it. The Copac draft constitution will not deliver on any of the key issues - free and fair elections, end the culture of violence and the right to life itself. PM Tsvangirai and his MDC friends were elected on the ticket of bring democratic change, they have not only failed to deliver not even one reform after five years in power but worst still, they have already endorsed the Copac rubbish. They are out there asking people to vote yes to the Copac rubbish on understanding that MDC will force through the necessary reforms in the four months after the referendum but before the elections are free and fair. They are promising to push through the reforms in four months when they failed to do so in four and half years.
I am not concerned about the "non-humans" governing us but whether the people themselves have the common sense not to be conned into accepting the Copac rubbish and thus go through another election process in which the same abuse and violence of 2008 will be repeated and the resulting government to emerge at the end of the day will be another dysfunction MDC government with Zanu PF holding the real power at best! Will Zimbabweans have the common sense to reject this Copac rubbish and demand the implementation of all the reforms and thus secure the guarantees of free and fair elections. Sadly, it is not certain that the people have the common sense to do that! Sadly, common sense is not such a common thing!
@ Free Speech
Dambisa is right the ordinary men and women in most African countries can stand in the queue and vote but their knowledge and understanding of political and economic issues is so trivial they cannot hold those in government to account. So it is absurd to talk to of a functioning democracy is Africa.
In Zimbabwe the small segment of the population one would expect to have some level of understanding of issues was either coerced into joining the dictatorship or they have since left the country for greener pastures. Zanu PF has forced into the proposed Copac draft constitution clauses effectively denying these in the diaspora their right to remain a citizen of Zimbabwe if another to be citizen of another country. And a clause denying Zimbabweans outside the country, except for those on government business, the right to vote.
Zanu Pf has effectively disenfranchised the Zimbabweans in the diaspora constitution a very significant, if not the majority, of the population capable of holding the regime to account. Instead of remaining engage and continue to fight the good fight of holding the Mugabe regime to account the people in the diaspora have since thrown in the towel and lost interest leaving the ordinary people at the mercy of the cunning and calculating tyrant.
Mugabe has Tsvangirai is his back pocket, the Copac draft will almost certainly be approve in the referendum and Mugabe will use violence to “win” the next elections. The diaspora people would not have been so easily fooled but that is exactly why Mugabe wanted them off the political map. The opposite is equally true; the diaspora people should have remained on the political map to stop Mugabe fooling around. Sadly the truth of the latter has clearly has not occurred to the diaspora people!
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