Zimbabwe has been a nation of protestors and human rights activists contend to say what is wrong in society but rarely ever come up with what should be done about and rarest of all do it!
“The Zimbabwean Constitution enshrines the principle of separation of powers among three distinct arms of government, which are the executive, consisting of the President and Cabinet, the legislature, which is the Parliament, and the judiciary (Courts),” wrote Mirian Mangwaya in Weekly Digest/Bulawayo 24.
“Nevertheless, the independence of the judiciary from the executive has been largely indistinct. The implementation of the principle of separation of powers in Zimbabwe, including guarantees for judiciary independence, is important for the revival of the country's image and economy.”
For Pete’s sake! Zimbabwe is a Banana Republic, a pariah state, ruled by corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous thugs. Mnangagwa, and before him Mugabe, and his Zanu PF cronies have ridden roughshod over the people denying them their freedoms and rights including the right to a meaningful vote and even the right to life for the last 40 years and counting!
The number one task Mugabe set himself ever since the day Zanu PF got into power following the 1980 election (which the party made sure it would win by making it clear the civil would continue if it lost) was to undermine the multi-party democratic Lancaster constitution to create a de facto one-party dictatorship. The 1983 to 1987 Gukurahundi massacre in which over 20 000 innocent civilians were murdered to pressure Joshua Nkomo and his PF Zapu to join up with Zanu PF; cemented the dictatorship.
After 4 decades of enjoying absolute power, it is no exaggeration to say a very state institution in Zimbabwe has been throughly corrupted and politicised it is a department of the party in all but name; there to serve the party above all else.
Following the 15 November 2017 military coup which booted Robert Mugabe from State House (it was the only way given the party rigged elections); High Court Judge George Chiweshe ruled the coup was “legal, justified and constitutional”!
Of course, that it is utter nonsense; there is no democratic constitution in the world that would make something as blatantly lawless as a coup constitutional. It is equally nonsensical for one to still be wittering after that of an “independent judiciary” ignoring all the mountain of evidence we have captured judiciary.
“The law appears to be favouring government protégés while the executive is using it to suppress dissent and incarcerating 'detractors', in what Alex Magaisa, a law lecturer at Kent University said as a law fare by President Emmerson Mnangagwa's regime,” continued Mirian.
"It (Mnangagwa regime) has normalised selective application of the law, aided by the lack of resistance to it," Magaisa posted on his Twitter.
What Mirian should have said is that Alex Magaisa was the Chief Adviser to then Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC-T leader in the 2008 to 2013 Government of National Unit (GNU). The primary task of the MDC in the GNU was to implement the raft of democratic reforms designed to dismantle the Zanu PF’s dictatorship, restore the individual freedoms and rights, end the curse of rigged elections and restore democracy and good governance.
MDC failed to implement even one token reform in five years. Not one!
Without any doubt the 2008 GNU offered us the best opportunity ever to end the Zanu PF dictatorship peacefully; it was our get out of jail card. And MDC failed to implement even one token democratic reform in five long years and the opportunity was lost.
So what was the Chief Adviser, Alex Magaisa, doing if it was not to advise MDC to implement the bloody democratic reforms and get the nation out of the hell-hole Zanu PF had dragged us all into! Of course, it is infuriating to be blubbering about Zanu PF using the law selectively, when one knows Zimbabwe is a Banana Republic. And most infuriating of all when those blubbering the loudest are the ones who failed to dismantle the dictatorship when they had golden opportunity to do so.
Indeed, since the MDC leaders’ blatant betrayal during the 2008 to 2013 GNU they have completely given up the fight for democratic reforms. They have participated in all elections since 2013 knowing fully well Zanu PF would rig the elections and that doing so would give legitimacy to the vote rigging Zanu PF regime.
Zanu PF has offered a few gravy train seats to entice the opposition to participate in the elections regardless how flawed and illegal the process got. The MDC leaders have found the bait simply irresistible.
"President Mnangagwa should work to restore public confidence in the independence and competence of the Judicial Services Commission (JSC), by openly defending and enforcing the principle of separation of powers," said Dewa Mavhinga, Director for Southern Africa Human Rights Watch.
I have yet to hear Mavhinga and many of the other Human Rights activists criticise and hold the MDC to democratic account for failing to implement even one reform during the GNU. To Mavhinga and many other Zimbabweans out there the 2008 to 2013 GNU and the opportunity it present to end the Zanu PF dictatorship never happened.
Like it or not, Zimbabwe is a dysfunction Banana Republic ruled by ruling elite comprising the corrupt, incompetent and vote rigging Zanu PF thugs and the equally corrupt, incompetent and utterly useless MDC opportunists. How long are we going to pretend Zimbabwe needs just a fine tuning to make it a working democracy.
After 40 years of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and rank lawlessness it is naive, indeed insane, to expect Zanu PF to reform itself out of power. Wake up Zimbabwe!
7 comments:
“If Mnangagwa's government is serious about socio-economic development then it has to make a clean break with the past and take clear steps to restore the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary,” said Dewa Mavhunga.
We are talking about Mnangagwa here for Christ sake! The man is a corrupt, incompetent and murderous tyrant whose only care is to hang on to power at all cost. We have known that Mnangagwa is a tyrant for 40 years now and yet still expect him to behave like a democrat!
Zimbabweans have buried their heads in the sand for 40 years and would not see Zanu PF thugs for what they are because the nation did not want to have to deal with the reality of holding the thugs to account. Zanu PF thugs have taken full advantage of this and dragged the whole nation into this hell-on-earth. And we are not getting out of the hell-hole without finally dealing with the problem of bad governance.
“Mnangagwa must make a clean break with the past and restore the rule of law!” After 40 years of tyrannical rule, why should he!
@ Trevor Ncube
“The State has a duty of care to its citizens, and when there's an incident that leads to speculation about possible police brutality, the State should reassure the public that it will investigate and hold any offender accountable, as was the case with the video of the woman seen cradling her child,” you say.
“Zimbabwe's constitution guarantees the right to freedom of expression and the State must curtail its assault of this right. Over the past six months, Hopewell Chin'ono has been in and out of the courts and Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison on charges relating to his work as a journalist.”
Zimbabwe has too many opportunist and sell-outs who will say one thing today and, given the right incentive, do the exact opposite. We have individuals who have sold their own mothers for a price and were proud they had a mother to sell.
Trevor Ncube, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube and many others now helping this Zanu PF dictatorship KNEW Mnangagwa rigged the July 2018 elections and hence the main reason Zimbabwe is stuck in this hell-on-earth all these last 40 years and yet they still agreed to work with the regime.
We have Ncube shedding buckets of crocodile tears over the regime’s assault on the right to freedom of expression of three guys and yet he said nothing about the regime denying the whole nation its right to an meaningful say in the governance of the country.
I hope the incoming President Joe Biden will really step up in its fight against tyrants - after America’s own brush with a tyrant like Donald Trump. It would be good to extend the targeted sanctions against the Zanu PF thugs and this time rope in the sell-outs like Trevor Ncube and Professor Mthuli Ncube. And add the MDC leaders for failing to implement the democratic reforms when they had the chance to!
@ The Herald
Following the recent attacks on US Capitol building by President Donald Trump's supporters, Twitter Inc, Facebook Inc, Google owned Alphabet Inc, Apple Inc, and Amazon.com Inc took strong actions against him and his supporters.
The decision by these tech companies to curtail Trump's right of freedom of speech and his ability to speak to his followers through mainstream social media raised pertinent questions regarding the tremendous power that these tech companies wield vis-à-vis governments and individuals.
If these tech companies can stifle such a powerful president's voice, what will they do to developing countries like Zimbabwe? Other questions that need urgent attention pertain to the code of conduct by those who use these social media platforms. Are other users safe? How can these platforms be regulated?
Many people are using concerted efforts to engage in nefarious cyber activities with the intention of advancing their political interests. As a result, the country has witnessed increased disregard of facts on social media with political players only interested in advancing their political goals.
Zimbabwe should not continue to be seen as a safe haven for political cyber criminals to operate illegally with impunity.
There is, therefore, a need to develop a coherent strategy for digital governance, so that different and competing interests are managed in a consistent, transparent and accountable manner to ensure that those who wield enormous influence on digital space are held accountable for their actions. Both powerful tech companies and influential individuals should not be allowed to possess absolute power on cyber space.
There is no denying that President Trump had used the social media to claim the 3 November 2020 USA elections and yet failed to provide any evidence. When he went on to incite his supporters to commit acts of violence, he crossed the double red-lines and blocking his social media accounts was completely justified.
No one expect Zanu PF, The Herald and the rest of the regime’s apologists to understand that no one is above the law - the regime has always operated on the premise that it is above the law.
You will never get many Zimbabweans to admit that Mnangagwa is a tyrant, some will grudgingly admit we have a captured judiciary, media, parliament, etc. Admitting to a captured judiciary, etc. alone leaves the door open to the leader being talked to seeing that it is wrong and thus change.
Admitting that Mnangagwa is tyrant, acknowledges the reality that he has knowing captured the judiciary, etc. for selfish reasons.
Having to deal with a democrat who has made a mistake is one thing and having to confront a tyrant to change his ways is a totally different kettle of fish.
Of course, Mnangagwa is a tyrant and capturing state institutions like judiciary, media, parliament, etc. and rendering them nothing more than departments of the party in all but name is what tyrants do. And after 40 years of Zanu PF tyrannical rule, the task of capturing the state institutions is done and dusted. And the suggestion that Zanu PF can ever reform itself out of office is childish nonsense.
THE late former president Robert Mugabe's business empire has crumpled amid revelations that Gushungo Dairy Estate is being leased to a company linked to a millionaire businessman.
A once thriving chicken and pig enterprise at the former Zimbabwe's strongman Zvimba home, has also collapsed.
Details obtained this week indicate that Mugabe's widow, Grace, is struggling to run the vast estate resulting in the business nosediving to an estimated 20% capacity utilisation.
Mugabe who ruled Zimbabwe with an iron fist for 37 years but was removed via a military assisted takeover in November 2017 left a huge business portfolio mainly in farming with 21 farms, according to a government commissioned land audit.
This is in stark contrast with the one-manone-farm land policy his administration touted while Mugabe and his family turned into notorious land barons.
In 2015, Grace evicted 80 families who settled at part of the Gushungo Dairy Estate, but ever since the death of her husband things have turned for the worse.
This comes as no surprise as the Zanu PF ruling elite’s business success has, more often than not, depended on heavy direct and/or indirect subsidies. Whilst the other Zanu PF ruling elite have continued to get funding from the command agriculture schemes, for example, Grace Mugabe was not getting any since the death of her husband.
Grace Mugabe would have been best advised to sell everything as soon as her husband died and use the money to buy jewels and other valuables that will hold their value. She could keep Z$ knowing another wave of hyperinflation was a certainty!
AN army-linked miner, Anjin Investments (Pvt) Ltd, grabbed the most lucrative diamond claim in Marange from a firm owned by the government after being relicensed under unclear circumstances, it has emerged.
Investigations carried out with support from Information for Development Trust, a non-profit organisation helping journalists to expose corruption and bad governance, established that Anjin has effectively taken over Portal B, a diamond-rich zone in Marange that was being mined by the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC), a government outfit set up in 2016.
The ZCDC was established as a merger of DTZ-OZGEO, Marange Resources, Kusena Diamonds, Diamond Mining Company and Gye Nyame, when Anjin and several other diamond miners were de-licensed by the government and barred from operating in Marange, in Manicaland province, for alleged impropriety.
The de-licensing occurred during the rule of the late Robert Mugabe, who was deposed through a military-assisted takeover in November 2017.
The truth is after 40 years of absolute power Zimbabwe’s ruling elite have become so corrupt and arrogant the the idea of giving up power and with it their looted wealth are simply unthinkable. The fight for free, fair and credible elections is going to be a tough fight!
Oppah Muchinguri- I Am Drinking Zinc But People Are Dying All Over Zimbabwe
The one story that is crying to be told in Zimbabwe is that the official corona virus cases and deaths are lies, the real figures are much, much higher. And the tragedy is that by lying about the seriousness of the virus the government has help the virus spread far and wide and the chickens have finally come home to roost!
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