“Top lawyer, Thabani Mpofu, said Ziyambi
faces contempt of court charges and the lawyers have drafted a complaint to the
Registrar of High Court, Judge President George Chiweshe, and all cited judges
following Ziyambi's weekend outburst,” reported Bulawayo 24.
“After Saturday's High Court ruling, the Justice Minister claimed the country's
judiciary was "captured" by unnamed hostile foreign powers and the
government would not accept that.”
"Owing to the gravity of the matter
we wish to advise that we have firm instructions from our consultant to take
the necessary action, including the institution of proceedings for contempt of
Court should the law not be faithfully and scrupulously adhered to," said
Mpofu.
The lawyers' consultant is Musa Kika, the director of the Zimbabwe Human Rights
NGO Forum.
"Whilst an appeal can, all things being equal, be lodged against a
declaratur, the position in law is that an appeal does not suspend the
operation of the declaratur," said Mpofu.
I am persuaded to think we have too many
lawyers in Zimbabwe and, worst of all, many of them are mediocre.
One of the favourite career paths of our
lawyers is politics and so many of the leaders in both Zanu PF and MDC are
lawyers. Each of the two parties have had their fair share of legal blunders. Many
people questioned the rational of Nelson Chamisa’s claim that he won the July
2018 presidential race with 2.6 million votes and yet failed to produce the V11
forms, Polling station vote count summary sheet.
The Court challenge on the Constitution
Amendment Bill No 2 has already shown that both the President and Minister of
Justice have village idiots for legal advisors!
The Zanu PF regime has a narcissistic
obsession with itself especially as regards its competence, the regime wants to
portray an image it is infallible. To admit doing wrong would soil the infallible
image and so must be resisted at all cost. Zanu PF has spent billions of dollars
sprucing up its imagine many PR companies in USA and UK love the regime for it.
Mugabe was so fastidious about trivial
matters he would ironed his socks and yet did nothing to arrest even one
swindler he admitted “swindled the nation of US$15 billion in diamond revenue”!
He was the swindler in chief and that is the point exactly! Still, all Zanu PF
cronies are schooled claiming infallibility to hide their incompetence.
And so we should not be surprised that
Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi did not admit his office had mishandled the Amendment
Bill and instead accused the three High Court judges, in this matter, of being “captured”.
However, one has to question the wisdom
of charging Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi of contempt of court for accusing the judges
of being captured especially when the judiciary is indeed captured by the
regime itself.
Many people have said Zimbabwe’s
judiciary is captured by Zanu PF because of such foolish judgements as Justice
George Chiweshe’s ruling that the November 2017 coup was “legal, justified and
constitutional”!
When Didymus Mutasa, Joice Mujuru and
many other Zanu PF bigwigs were booted out of the party in 2014, Didymus Mutasa
threatened to sue Mugabe. “In whose Court!” the dictator replied dismissively!
If the Court was to censure Minister
Ziyambi Ziyambi for saying the judges were captures; are we not throwing the
door open to censure to all criticism of the Court for fear of contempt of
court charges. Poor Didymus Mutasa would have faced the double jeopardy;
punished by being denied the right to sue Mugabe and punished again for daring
to repeat Mugabe’s own boastful words as his reason for dropping the case.
Zimbabwe is facing a serious economic
meltdown that has resulted in mass unemployment, the collapse of basic services
such as education and health care and 49% our people now live in abject poverty,
according to the WB’s latest report. The root cause of the economic turmoil is
the country’s failure to hold free, fair and credible elections.
The country had the golden opportunity to
implement the democratic reforms and to draft a democratic constitution during
the 2008 to 2013 GNU. The MDC leaders failed to implement even one reform and
sold the nation a febrile constitution which has failed to deliver the
democratic freedoms and rights including the right to free and fair elections.
The great irony is MDC has so many lawyers and legal advisors.
The nation would rather see all these MDC
leaders, some lawyers in their own right, and their legal advisor focus their
attention of delivering free, fair and credible elections, sue ZEC for failing
to produce a verified voters’ roll, sue the Police for failing to arrest Zanu
PF thugs forcing rural teachers to attend Zanu PF rallies, etc. Do something
useful and relevant for a change!
Suing Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi for saying
judges are captured is frivolous, to say the least, especially in the face of
the very serious economic, social and political challenges the nation is facing!
10 comments:
Prominent human rights lawyers Tendai Biti and Thabani Mpofu were speaking at a press conference Monday while responding to threats issued by Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi following the High Court ruling.
The minister said the three judges, Justice Happias Zhou, Justice Jester Charewa, and Justice Edith Mushore, were judiciary officers "captured" by unnamed foreign powers and the government would not accept that.
However, Biti and Mpofu said their main agenda for filing the High Court application was not political, but the protection of the country's Constitution, which was voted for by more than 93% of Zimbabweans in a referendum in 2013.
"We are not pursuing any political agenda. We want to protect the Constitution of the country which was approved by 93% of Zimbabweans in a referendum. We are prepared to die for that Constitution," said Biti, who is also the MDC Alliance Vice President.
He went on to castigate senior government officials for fast-tracking Constitutional Amendment Bills No. 1 and No. 2 in a "shambolic manner" that has now created a "constitutional crisis"
Mr Tendai Biti, please do not make the mistake of treating every Zimbabwean as one of your MDC supporters with an intellect of a wildebeest – programmed to follow with no questions asked! Do you seriously believe 93% of Zimbabweans would vote for the same constitution today, now they know it will never ever deliver their freedoms and rights including the right to free elections and even the right to life itself?
The March 2013 constitution was “dictated by Mugabe” boasted Paul Mangwana, Zanu PF co-chair on the parliamentary committee that drafted the document. It is a dictator’s creed and not the democratic constitution the nation was yarning for.
You and your fellow MDC leaders have participated in flawed and illegal elections because you are after the few gravy train seats Zanu PF offers as bait. You are desperate to win one of these gravy train seats and you are already on the campaign trail. You know that by participating in the flawed elections you give the vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy and thus help Zanu PF stay in power and do all this mischief of corrupt and tyrannical rule. You do not care about the tragic human suffering under this Zanu PF dictatorship all you care about is winning one of the gravy train seats and a share of the spoils of power.
So please, please spare us all this bullshit about protecting the constitution and dying for it! The constitution is just a dictator creed which your connived with Zanu PF to sell to the nation. You are giving Zanu PF legitimacy in return for a share of the spoils of power and you expect the nation to regard you as the knight in shining armour! You really are a shameless Judas Iscariot!
This was said by party deputy chairperson Job Sikhala (Zengeza West MP) during a virtual rally held on Sunday.
The rally was meant to evaluate President Emmerson Mnangagwa's performance mid-way through his term of office which expires in 2023.
"If you give us the mandate to govern the country, in just three months, we would have addressed all the challenges we are currently facing," Sikhala said.
"You will enjoy your lives and during that time, you will wonder why it was taking so long to have the economic challenges fixed. Therefore, I urge our supporters to remain vigilant. Don't be intimidated. Consider how we, your leaders, have been persecuted through arbitrary arrests. We remain resolute and we continue fighting for democracy."
This is just nonsense to impress the naïve and gullible MDC supporters whose intellect is comparable to that of the wildebeest herd, programmed to follow the hump in front without ever asking where the herd is going. It will take the death of hundreds of thousands of wildebeests before the penny finally drops that river is flooded and it is too dangerous to cross!
MDC was in the 2008 to 2013 GNU, five years, why did the party fail to fix all the nation’s economic challenges then?
MDC has been on the political stage fight for democracy for 21 years, 5 of which in the GNU, name one democratic change the party has delivered in all those years? Name one, just one!
The MDC A are strutting around claiming they are fighting for democracy and defending the March 2013 Constitution regardless of the fact it has failed to deliver the freedoms and rights including the right to free elections and even the right to life. Paul Mangwana, Zanu PF co-chair on the parliamentary committee that drafted the constitution boasted that Mugabe dictated the document and all the evidence on the ground proves this is indeed the case.
Job Sikhala and company have been participating in flawed and illegal elections knowing fully well that Zanu PF will rig and claim the usual 2/3 majority and, most important of all, knowing fully well that by participating they give the vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy. They participated regardless because they also knew Zanu PF is giving away a few gravy train seat to entice the opposition to participate.
So Job Sikhala and company are “fighting for democracy” by giving legitimacy to the vote rigging Zanu PF; only a village idiot will not see this is a oxymoron, especially after 41 years of rigged elections!
@ Nomazulu
MDC A will have the bullet trains running between Bulawayo and Harare, flyovers at every Growth Point, Zimbabwe will be hosting the Olympic Games, 100% employment rate, etc., etc. all within 3 months of a MDC A government by sworn in!
Desperate people do desperate things and that is the only explanation one can give why some Zimbabweans out there continue to follow Chamisa blindly.
It is insane to participate in flawed elections just to give the vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy. If Zimbabweans participate into the 2023 elections they will only have themselves to blame because they have been warned!
Mwonzora's spokesperson Lloyd Damba told NewsDay that his boss was not in support of the unwarranted attack on judges.
"He does not condone the attack of the Judiciary because he (Mwonzora) is on record defending the same judges of the High Court as well as the Supreme Court when they passed the judgment against Nelson Chamisa (MDC Alliance leader) on the party leadership issue. These judges were attacked by the same hypocritical academics that are condemning Justice minister (Ziyambi) for doing what they did," Damba said.
He said Mwonzora was a democrat who believed, not only in the separation of powers, but the independence of the Judiciary since he is a practising lawyer
MDC leaders failed to implement even one democratic reform in five years of the 2008 to 2013 GNU because Mugabe bribed them with the trappings of high office, the ministerial limos, the generous salaries and allowances, a US$4 million mansion for Tsvangirai, etc., etc. With their snouts in the feeding trough the MDC leaders forgot they were in the GNU to implement the democratic reforms.
And just to be doubly sure not even one reform proposal will be submitted Mugabe had the knack of making a mountain out of a mole hill and MDC leaders would spend their time and energy fighting over that. The drafting of the new constitution was one such matter where the appointing of the committee, how it was to be structured, who will participate, how much in allowances they would receive (this was a big issue everyone wanted to cash in on this), etc., etc. It took four years just to get the committee to put the shove in the ground and then there followed a stampede to finish it in time for the 2013 elections.
Of course, this was a deliberate, calculated and sinister move by Mugabe because he dictated the document and did not want the MDC leaders to spend time debating the constitution itself and so he occupied them by letting them spend four years discuss the trivial issues with no bearing on the constitution.
The nation is heading for the 2023 elections and with no reforms in place Zanu PF is set to rig the elections. Instead of the nation focusing on what to do to stop history of rigged elections repeating itself the opposition is busy fighting over the reappointment of Luke Malaba as Chief Justice. Zimbabwe’s judiciary is already captured by the regime and his appointment was not going to change much but you would not think so to listen to the opposition. They are like puppies fighting over a thigh, not even an adult hyena can crash that bone, the puppies think they can!
So all the MDC factions, Madhuku and all the other opposition opportunists will be gnawing at this Malaba bone for months to come; all vying to portray themselves as the defenders of the constitution and therefore should be voted in the 2023 elections. Of course, they are all participating regardless the process is flawed and illegal and doing so will give legitimacy to the vote rigging Zanu PF. They all know Zanu PF is giving away a few gravy train seats and that is all they care about!
@ Mwembe
“You see we citizens of this nation are not fools and not born last week. We know we know nonsense just one glance at it. Mwonzora is rubbish and politically insane whatever he utters does not any sense .How does he condemn the law which he and zanu created? Is he trying to hoodwink us thinking we are fools like those who blindly follow him. The writing is on the wall for him 2023 elections will bury him never to be heard of again.”
The real damage was in accepting a feeble and weak constitution that has failed to deliver the freedoms and rights the nation was yarning for because it is not a democratic constitution but a dictator’s creed dictated by Mugabe himself. All the MDC leaders are to blame for betraying the nation and selling us this bullshit! When are you going to open your eyes and see Chamisa, Biti and the rest of the MDC A leaders are just as corrupt and incompetent as Mwonzora!
I totally agree, Mugabe could be fastidious to the point of ironing his socks if only to prove his superiority. It is no secret that Mugabe was obsessed about the British aristocracy and when he was knighted by the Queen, he must have felt he was walking on air! Jesus walked on water, he was out doing Him!
He returned to Zimbabwe and built himself the sprawling monstrosity of a palatial mansion, the US$ 2 - 4 billion Blue Roof, had a vast business empire, held lavish birthday parties, his family lived in unparalleled luxury, etc., etc. And even with all that he still felt there was something lacking and so kept ironing his socks! Mugabe’s inferiority complex was deep rooted and could not be exorcised by ironing socks!
He lived in a US$ 2 – 4 billion sprawling mansion built at the expense of the nation’s hospitals and schools that were falling into rot and decay because they were starved of funding, the country’s once promising economy was spiralling into decline, the nation that had once been the breadbasket of the region was now the basket case of a failed Banana Republic, etc. Everything around him confirm that Mugabe was a pretentious phony, a braindead buffoon wearing his ironed socked. Everything confirmed he was just as inferior as he had always feared he was! What a crashing blow!
Mugabe loved making complete fools of all those around him. He loved sending his Zanu PF cronies and even more so the MDC leaders on wild goose chase for his own selfish political gain. MDC leaders wasted four years during the GNU talking about the parliamentary committee to draft the new constitution, who will participate, what allowance will be paid to the participant (a big issue since everyone wanted a piece of the cash pay-out), etc. all the trivial matters. He dictated the constitution and Paul Mangwana rightly boasted and the nation was stampeded into approving it by 93% in the March 2013 referendum.
MDC leaders had done nothing of note during the GNU and therefore were desperate to have done something and so the claimed the new constitution as an “MDC child!” and “the most democratic constitution in the world!” Even today, with the benefit of hindsight many MDC leaders are ashamed to admit the March constitution is indeed febrile and so are foolishly defending it and pretending it can ever be anything other than what it is, a dictator’s creed.
The worst thing these MDC idiots can do is drag the nation into yet another flawed elections only to give the vote rigging Zanu PF regime legitimacy!
@ Munyadzi Gwisai
“Ziyambi’s inflammatory statement discloses the Lacoste faction’s panic over a re-emerging cross-party elite alliance of the military- state-judicial and opposition elites backed by imperialist powers that were the framework that facilitated the November 2017 coup
But today, they (youth) have learnt from that bitter experience. And most importantly the unrelenting and unmitigated neoliberal austerity war on them under finance minister Mthuli Ncube, especially the U.S. dollar wage debauchery theft in a dollarised economy has radicalised the working classes and youths. And improved their potential unity.
As shown by the unprecedented walkout from the Tripartite Negotiating Forum (TNF) by disparate labour federations following their joint unions Wage Summit, including those historically sympathetic to the regime. The current deepening intra-elite fights can potentially develop into a wider inter-class social political conflict with revolutionary implications, if the working class and youth move in as a separate and independent force.
The present situation will dramatically change if the working classes and youths seize the moment and enter into the equation – adding their economic anti-austerity class demands to the democratic ones already at play around the retirement of Malaba and Amendment No. 2. No other class under capitalism possesses the same level of social weight and power and capacity to unite all oppressed classes against oppression and exploitation as the working class.”
Are you not confusing what you want to see with what is there? You talking of the economic hardships have “radicalised the working classes and youths and improved their potential unity”. The reality is the economic meltdown had made the working classes poorer than ever and therefore more desperate. Desperate people do desperate things like support the same corrupt and incompetent leaders.
Zanu PF has the rural poor corralled and guarded by war veterans and Zanu PF youth militia, the green bombers, in no-go areas to political opponents. The party is assured 60% or so of the vote as its starting base.
Many Zimbabweans out there have no clue what the 2008 to 2013 GNU was about much less that MDC leaders sold-out big time. And contrary to your wish, these people have learned nothing from the past and remain solidly united behind the same MDC leaders. As in the past, they will once again belief in Chamisa’s Win In Rigged Elections (WIRE) strategies and thus participating the coming elections, By participating they will once again give the vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy.
Your united worker’s revolution will not happen because all we are going to see is history repeating itself, another rigged elections with people participating only to give the vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy. MDC A and MDC-T will fight the rest of the opposition camp for the few gravy train seats Zanu PF gives away as bait.
Chamisa and Mwonzora will drag the nation into yet another meaningless election for the sole purpose of settling which one of them will have the bragging right to be called leader of the main opposition party.
The ordinary people will have nothing to gain from these elections and their economic situation will only get worse. The people have learned nothing from 41 years of rigged elections and so history will repeat itself, yet another rigged election, until they learn!
Former Zanu-PF politburo member Jonathan Moyo said Zimbabwean elections since 1980 always had a disputed outcome.
He said the November 2017 military coup would have an impact in the 2023 elections.
"There has been a very systematic programme by the securocrats to shift politics from everyday engagement and contestation to a security-driven process, where fear grips the nation. The State does not want citizens to engage in political life," Moyo said
Zanu PF has the advantage of a corrupted opposition that will contest the elections no matter how flawed and illegal process got as long as they are assured of winning a few grave train seats. Zanu PF has corralled the poor especially those in the rural areas whom the party has reduced to nothing short of medieval serfs beholden to their overbearing landlords. Zanu PF has retained the carte blanche powers to use all manner of coercive force to frog match the rural voters to attend party rallies and to vote for the party.
The MDC leaders know most rural areas are no-go areas and they are only allowed there if they are not posing a serious electoral threat to the regime.
Zanu PF leaders are smart enough to know the presence of the opposition is important for the party’s legitimacy and has allowed the opposition to win a few seats mostly in the urban areas. MDC leaders and the rest in the opposition camp have all but tacitly agreed to this arrangement.
If the ordinary people ever cottoned on they were being taken for fools they would demand the full implementation of the reforms and free and fair elections. MDC leaders have been telling their followers the party has devised Win In Rigged Election (WIRE) strategies and, fortunately for Chamisa and company, the electorate are naïve, gullible and increasing desperate lot; they believe anything.
The penny is yet to drop that they actually have a right to free, fair and credible elections, it is not a privilege to be earned or denied at the whim of a dictator. But until such day the penny finally drop they will be fighting to win rigged elections!
Sad really, that in this day and age so many people so be so shallow, thick and slow to be so easily conned by buffoons and village idiots like Emmerson Mnangagwa and Nelson Chamisa. Even after 41 years of rigged elections, these people have learned nothing, their brains have ossified into an utterly useless lump of fat.
@ Ndlovu
MDC leaders failed to implement the reforms to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections and so they now blame the people for failing to mobilise to register and vote and/or to protect the vote. This is all nonsense because Zanu PF uses its coercive powers to secure the rural vote, 60% plus. No amount of mobilisation of 40% can ever defeat 60%!
You cannot win rigged elections in which those doing the rigging have 60% vote before voting starts. Impossible!
MDC leaders must tell us how they are going to win the rural votes when they do not have the war veterans and Zanu PF youth militia, the green bombers, backed by the Army and Police to frog match the voters as Zanu PF is doing.
The teachers should not hold their breaths waiting for an answer from MDC A; the party has no answers to Zanu PF's massive coercive powers. MDC A should not be participating in elections without first implementing the reforms designed to end Zanu PF's dictatorial powers. MDC A has continued to participate regardless of the reality of Zanu PF harassing, beating and even killing innocent people to force them to vote for Zanu PF out of greed and disregard of suffering the populous.
All the Honourable Job Sikhala and company care about is winning the few gravy train seats Zanu PF give away as bait they do care what wanton violence Zanu PF is subjecting the ordinary people to secure its 2/3 majority. Sikhala loves grandstanding and posturing but this is only to better his chances in the opposition rat race for the bait seats as for the fight for reforms to end Zanu PF corruption and tyranny, he does not care a monkey!
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