Speaker of parliament,
Jacob Mudenda has fails to give a definitive answer on the fate of the 9 MPs on
the Biti faction Tsvangirai wanted recalled.
He said he had no “role
to play in the internal disciplinary actions, disputes or differences within political
parties, which matters may be appropriately dealt with by a competent court.”
No one asked him to determine the rights and wrong of the two parties vis-a-vis
the MDC’s constitution; his part was to consider the provisions of the Zimbabwe
constitution as regards MDC’s request to recall the 9 MPs.
Mugabe would not want
the 9 MPs recalled and have bye-elections which would open the issue of the voters
roll - the smoking gun to the rigged 2013 elections. Jacob Mudenda's "I do
not know, leave me alone" judgment is the regime's best hopes that the
issue will blow over!
The constitutional
provisions are clear enough; a party is entitle to ask its MPs to be recalled
if they no longer represent the party under whose banner the stood in the
elections.
As for which faction now
truly represent the MDC-T; the Speaker had only to ask himself which individual
would he have recognized as representing MDC before the split. MDC has
appointed Mrs Khupe was the leader of its MPs in parliament and therefore she
constitute the true representative of the MDC-T party.
Mudenda should have
given his judgment on the matter on the basis of what he has- i.e. that the MPs
will be recalled and unless there was any appeal after x days bye
elections will be held by y days as dictated by the constitution.
Yes Mudenda is right, it
is not for him on the rights or wrong of the two factions' split but he did not
need to involve himself in that mess.
The Tsvangirai faction
may rightly sue Mudenda for failing to act on their legal request for him to
recall the 9 MPs. Biti would be happy to see the matter kicked into the tall
grass rather than risk a bye election in which he has so much to lose and
little to gain.
As for Zanu PF;
the reality of the bye elections offering a window into the mucky world of
the rigged 2013 elections is a serious matter. I would be very disappointed is
this was to die a quite death; there is a lot of information on the rigged vote
and the voters roll the regime has stubbornly refuse to release.
3 comments:
The primary purpose of the democratic reforms agreed in the GPA was to prepare the Zimbabwe for fresh elections following the disputed 2008 elections in which Mugabe's claim of electoral victory in the run-off was rejected because of the wanton violence. The parties in the GNU were tasked to implement a raft of democratic reforms designed to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship and replace it with democratic institutions. The reforms were necessary to ensure the fresh elections were free and fair.
MDC had 18 months to implement the reforms according to the initial programme. In the end they had five years and yet not even one reform was implemented. Not one.
MDC was warned not to go ahead with the elections without the reforms but the party's leaders paid no heed. As expected, without the reforms Mugabe controlled all the institutions of State and rigged the elections.
There is no excuse whatsoever why MDC failed to implement the reforms and then ignored the warn not to stand. In doing so the MDC party leaders have proved to be breathtakingly incompetent.
SADC leaders have public denounced MDC leaders accusing them of "enjoying their time in the GNU and forgetting why they were there".
Donors who had assisted MDC and the country to fund the drafting of the new constitution withdraw their funding in disgust and frustration that an leader could be as incompetent as MDC leaders had shown.
The only people who have failed to see MDC leaders' incompetence and betrayal of our cause to end the Zanu PF dictatorship is Zimbabweans themselves. It is not surprising though; Zimbabweans have always had a very superficial understand of issues and the reform was just one such example.
The only person who would consider Tsvangirai, Biti, Ncube and all the other MDC leaders as serious leadership material is those who have never understood what the reforms were about and, even with the benefit of hindsight, have still failed to understand!
Zimbabwe is in this mess because we have one of the amazingly shallow minded electorate in the world, I hate to admit it but that is a fact. Worse still as long as the electorate remain this naïve and gullible; the nation has no chance of ever getting out of this mess. None!
@ Civil Disobedience
I will give you full marks on the reforms; you are certainly one of the very few Zimbabweans I have met and they understood what the reforms were about.
As for Tendai Biti doing his best then he of all people should have ensured the reforms were implemented. He did not. If anything he was the one leading the praise singers of Mugabe. In July 2012 he was talking of Mugabe as "unflappa-ble" and "the father of the nation".
Tsvangirai's incompetence is excusable on the grounds that he is a simpleton who should be in Buhera herding goats.
What is Biti's excuse? None! When he appointed Minister of Finance and had tea with the tyrant; his eyes glasses over and he "forgot why he was in the GNU"! What makes you think he will not do so again?
As for the way forward, the nation faces two problems:
1) Beside yourself and a few others who have finally to get their heads round the reforms the majority are blundering along like a herd of wildebeests, they do not have a clue. The herd still follow incompetent leaders like Tsvangirai blindly and in a democracy it is the numbers that count.
A competent leader should have got us out of this mess a long time ago but the herd do not want a competent leader because the do not what he or she is talking about.
2) Even if one could, some how manage to talk the herd to drop out and out idiots like Tsvangirai they would find it very difficult to dismiss incompetent but smart leaders like Biti, Makoni and Ncube. Remember Mugabe is corrupt, tyrannical, but above all smart which is why he has been able to outwit MDC leaders as well as his own Zanu PF leaders.
The main reason why the herd find it so difficult to reject leaders like Biti if they were to reject Tsvangirai is this case is simple; they need to hang to someone. Rejecting Mugabe was a tough decision by the herd but having made it they would not accept that Tsvangirai was incompetent - that was a bridge too far for them.
In 1) people lacked the knowledge to make the right decisions and in 2) they had the knowledge but then lacked the confidence to act decisively. Biti has proven to be incompetent, what he did was unforgivable. You have to let him go first to look for a replacement with the seriousness the matter demands.
Beside we need to send out a clear message that incompetent leaders are not acceptable and not this mixed message that they will be forgiven because the nation is desperate for leaders! No wonder our leaders have become big-headed even the village idiots. No one is irreplaceable!
@ Prodigy 712
So Biti suspends Khupe and the latter says no. It is not for Mudenda to rule on who is right, let someone else decide that one. As far as he is concerned Khupe is still MDC-T leader in parliament.
This is a simple case but of course not in a country where the rule of law is twisted or even discarded to suit those in power. Mugabe has his own agenda and thus everything is adjusted to suit him.
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