Saturday 25 March 2017

It is unconstitutional for UN to supervise ZEC, argue lawyer Toto - constitution is only relevant if it serves the people. P Guramatunhu

Prominent Zimbabwean lawyer, Tendai Toto dismisses calls by the opposition for the UN to supervise ZEC in next year’s elections.

"The provisions of section 239 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe are clear and unambiguous on the role and functions of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. There is no provision for some form of supervision by anybody for that matter," said Mr Toto.

"The suggestion and or the coded resolutions by opposition political parties that the international community must supervise the electoral processes of Zimbabwe is mischief.

Our learned friend is talking like learned parrot; he will regurgitate verbatim what the constitution says with no room for common sense interpretation of the chapter and verse. Of course, one would never expect a learned parrot to understand concept that the constitution is there to save the people and not the people to save the constitution.  

The new constitution, the learned parrot, is quoting was adopted in 2013 to replace the Lancaster House constitution because the latter had failed to serve the people’s basic freedoms and human rights including the right to free and fair elections and the right to life. Even our learned parrot would not dispute that the 2008 elections were not free, fair and credible; he will be the only one to do so because even SADC and AU election observers, known for turning a blind eye to dodgy elections, refused to endorse the result as free and fair.

SADC and AU would not recognise President Mugabe as the legitimate leader of Zimbabwe unless he agreed to join up with the MDC opposition to forming a Government of National Unity (GNU). The principle task of the GNU was to implement a raft of democratic reforms and draft a new democratic constitution so that Zimbabwe’s next election will be free, fair and credible and not a repeat of rigged elections of the past.

Sadly, not even one reform was implemented in the five years of the GNU and the new constitution was a weak and feeble. It is no surprise then that the 2013 elections were, again, not free, fair and credible.

"The allegations of lost confidence in ZEC must be investigated and proven via legal and legitimate channels and forums. The alleged lost confidence in ZEC started many years back and surely steps must have been taken to investigate and bring causes of complaints in the Electoral Courts," argued the learned parrot.

Clearly our learned parrot has great difficult in understand what “not even one reform was implemented” means much less its consequences. We did not only need forms to free ZEC from the corrupting influence of the Zanu PF dictatorship but reform to free all the other state institutions like Police, Judiciary, etc. If not even one reform was implemented common sense would dictate that ZEC, Police, Judiciary, etc. are all still under the tyrannical control of President Mugabe and Zanu PF.

Lawyer Tendai Toto knows as well as anyone else out there that this corrupt and tyrannical Mugabe dictatorship has denied our people the freedoms and basic human rights including the right to free and fair elections. He knows that Zimbabwe is yet to hold its first free and fair elections.

After 37 years of rigged elections and the nation in a political and economic mess; we certainly need help. If the UN, SADC or anyone else can help us in any way so we can finally have free, fair and credible elections then we accept that help, only a fool would object!

The relative ease with which President Mugabe has established the de facto one-party dictatorship and retained it for the last 37 years is testimony to millions of Zimbabweans who, for selfish personal gain, have turned a blind eye to freedom, justice, liberty and even the sanctity of human lives. Our learned parrot is defending ZEC, the Zanu PF dictatorship and President Mugabe to ingratiate himself to the tyrant; he has his beady eyes on some patronage post! 

8 comments:

Patrick said...

This is just a fallacious argument because it is founded on the falsehood that the opposition will lose the election because they will split the vote.

President Mugabe had 63% of the vote in 2013 and recent by-elections has seen his party win 78% in the Bikita West; fielding one opposition candidate will have made no difference to the winner. Zanu PF's electoral success is based on the party's licence to used all manner of dirty tricks to blatantly rig the vote.

Tsvangirai and everyone else in the opposition agreed that Zanu PF rigged the 2013 elections, they resolved not contest any future elections without implementing the reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging the vote, they will not deny that not even one reform was implemented since the July 2013 rigged elections and yet they are all tripping over each other to contest next year's elections.

The opposition know the elections will be rigged but they also know that Zanu PF will always give away a few seats, bait to the opposition. It is for these seats that the opposition are fighting over.


What the people of Zimbabwe must know is that whilst they are fighting Zanu PF for free and fair elections the opposition are helping the dictatorship stay in power by giving the vote rigging legitimacy by contesting the flawed elections in return for the bait gravy train seats the regime gives away.

Tsvangirai and his opposition friends know the elections are not going to be free and fair and that they have a snowball in hell chance of defeating Zanu PF, they are not honest enough to admit this to the people because they cannot admit they are contesting for the sake of the freebees from Zanu PF! It is for the people themselves to figure the truth here or be forever taken for a ride by both Zanu PF and the opposition!

Patrick said...

This is just cheap talk from Tsvangirai; the only way to restore ZEC's independence is by implementing the democratic reforms designed to sever the dictatorial umbilical controls has over ZEC. Demanding the firing of Makarau or all the ZEC officials will not change anything since President Mugabe will appoint just as bad officials or worse in their place!


Tsvangirai is corrupt and incompetent, he failed to bring about any meaningful democratic change when he had the golden opportunity to do so during the GNU. It is going to be a lot tougher to bring about any changes now and it is naive to expect Tsvangirai to do this.

No one in SADC, UN or anyone else would want to involved in Zimbabwe right now and have to deal with the likes of Tsvangirai, Mujuru, Biti, Ncube, etc. on the one hand and then the cunning Mugabe on the other. SADC tried that during the GNU only to find themselves being totally ignored by Tsvangirai during the GNU and then blamed for everything since! Only a fool would want to go through that one again!

Patrick said...

"Others can be elders and some as leaders of the mission. We can play to win if we confront the reality of our strength and weaknesses. It's important to emphasize the fact that much as one may be popular with people it does not make them what Zimbabwe needs. Mugabe is a case study. 2018 is a defining year for Zimbabwe and I challenge Zimbabweans not to push there into a COMMAND POLITICS lane where they end up endorsing a wrong candidate for the country. Politics is not a juvenile game where we are expected to succumb to peer pressure," said Maxwell Shumba, the leader of ZimFirst.


"Our country, our wealth and our future depends on the choice we are about to make in the next coming months. For us, before anyone try follow what others did by endorsing Morgan yesterday at the NERA rally, they need to share with us what changed between 2013 and now with Morgan. So far we have seen none. If it's based on popularity at the rallies, that's not enough. We cannot afford another 5 years of Mugabe. I believe in a coalition that is built on solid foundation not on shaky ground in which deceit is used as the mortar to bind the entities together. No. Senor."

This is probably the only sensible thing said by all those who attended the NERA demo last Wednesday! We all accept that President Mugabe and Zanu PF rigged the 2013 elections and that we need to implement the reforms to stop the vote rigging. Why then are we pretending that the opposition can still win the elections even with no reforms?

Tsvangirai and friends were warned not to contest the 2013 elections with no reforms in place and they ignored the warned. The whole nation has paid dearly for it by having the corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship back into power. We will be foolish to make the same mistake again.

Nomusa Garikai said...

The GNU was not in the Lancaster House constitution, we amended it to suit the situation so to argue that we cannot have the UN supervising our elections because it is not in the new constitution is nonsense. The country needs free, fair and credible elections and we must do whatever is necessary to achieve that goal.

The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the sabbath and similarly the constitution was made for the people, right now it has clearly failed to serve the nation's needs, to even suggest that we are stuck with a constitution that is not serving us is stupid.

It is a pity that Zimbabwe has so many learned men and women but alas many of them do not have common sense; our learned friend Tendai Toto is one of them!

Nomusa Garikai said...

We do not need a coalition, what we need is democratic reforms to stop our people being harassed, beaten, raped or worse to force people to vote for Zanu PF. Why are these opposition politicians doing nothing to ensure the elections are free, fair and credible. Unless something is done to stop Zanu PF intimidation, the people, especially those is the rural areas and urban centre like Mbare where Chipangano gangs rule the roost, will vote for Zanu PF. I would advise my family and friends to vote for Zanu PF and not take any unnecessary risk supporting an opposition that no chance of winning and do not care about their safety!


You people talk about the coalitions but refuse to take about free, fair and credible elections. All you care about is getting back on the gravy train and do not care about the price others pay to get you there. Once in power you forget what you promised povo. MDC had the golden opportunity to deliver democratic change during the GNU, they failed to deliver even one reform. NOT EVEN ONE!

Nomusa Garikai said...

@ Jon Chan

If the Zanu PF won 78% of the vote the single opposition candidate will have won 22% of the vote, that is simple arithmetic!

Zanu PF now know that to avoid the legitimacy problem of July 2008, they must allow the opposition to win some seats as long as they win the 66% in parliament plus the presidency. The opposition are fighting for the 34% or so gravy train seats. The people of Zimbabwe are dying for meaningful political change and that will never happen until the country has free and fair elections. The opposition know the next elections are not going to be free and fair and they are avoiding making any comment on the matter because they know this is one blatant lie they cannot get away with.

They are talking about the coalition, mobilising for voter registration and voting and pretending this allow will be enough to overwhelm Zanu PF's vote rigging, just to create the impression they will win!

The opposition have settled for the bait seats Zanu PF gives away, the people should understand that and if they think that is worth them risking life and limp over, at least they will be doing so knowing what is what. But as far as I am concerned no Zimbabwean should even be harassed much less beaten just to get a few opposition politicians back on the gravy train. It is not worth it!

If the opposition has done nothing to ensure free, fair and credible elections then vote for Zanu PF until we can get opposition politicians who will do the job. The scraps from Zanu PF need a seat on the gravy train for the opposition politicians but nothing to povo who will still be stuck with the Zanu PF dictatorship. So why should povo put their safety and more on the line to get scraps for the opposition?

"Vanofira mafufu sengozo vanopenga!" (It is madness, to die for scraps like a rat!)

Nomusa Garikai said...

Mugabe's nephew says green bombers are here to stay.

We all know why Zanu PF needs the green bombers, especially now when the party has parted company with the war veterans!

Zimbabwe Light said...

The sooner the nation dismantle this totalitarian dictatorship the sooner we can start the important task of rebuilding the nation's ruined economy and paralysed political institutions! Nothing of any substance will ever be accomplished as long as the Zanu PF dictatorship continue to exist!