ZIMBABWE TOWARDS NEW ELECTIONS: RULE OF LAW & CONSTITUTION MAKING IN ZIMBABWE

ZIMBABWE TOWARDS NEW ELECTIONS: RULE OF LAW & CONSTITUTION MAKING IN ZIMBABWE:   WHAT is law? When is a law not a law? These a...

RULE OF LAW & CONSTITUTION MAKING IN ZIMBABWE

WHAT is law? When is a law not a law? These are questions that have detained glossators and other jurists for many centuries. In positivistic terms, a law is a set of rule and commands which bear the imperator of compliance of penalties and sanctions against non-compliance. What if that command or instruction is so outrageous in its defiance of logic and common sense that it does not carry any legitimacy and moral authority? Is it still a law? This is a challenge that jurists have faced in judging the qualitative value, impact and meaning of laws passed in autocratic and undemocratic matrixes. The Holocaust, for instance, was implemented on a raft of “laws” enacted by the Third Reich. Apartheid was equally implemented and executed by a raft of “laws” enacted by the National Party between 1948 and 1992.   In Zimbabwe, over the past 33 years we have suffered horribly under the guise of “laws” which are not legitimate laws, legislation that lacked any moral jurisdiction which was used as a mere guise to expropriate people’s rights. This includes various amendments made to the constitution, in particular, constitutional amendment number 7, which created the institution of the imperial President and constitutional amendment number 16 and its vicious assault on the rights to own property. Other pieces of legislation which fall into this category include the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) and the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA). The tragedy with the counter proposals from Zanu PF to the agreed COPAC draft of July 18, 2012, is that they are legally and morally unacceptable as a law. Never mind the basic law of a country, they seek to perpetuate the ideology of subversion of the people’s rights, aspirations and will. In short, they constitute judicial fascism and fascism by any name will always be fascism. At the epicenter of the Zanu PF constitutional expurgation are three false jurisprudential premises. The first one is that a constitution is being made for one individual and one individual alone, the incumbent president Robert Mugabe. It is tragic and blasphemous to craft a constitution for and around an individual. The second false premise is to make a constitution based on the assumption that the status quo ante will always be the same and that Zanu PF will always be in power. Thus every provision has been crafted on the basis that Zanu PF will be here forever and has a God-given right to rule us forever. A good constitution, like any good contractual document must be based on mistrust, the assumption that any individual holding power can abuse that power. Thus a negotiated constitution should act as a bulwark against that power. Put differently, the Zanu PF Politburo should have had the mindset of any ordinary opposition and defined the protections that they would want to see in a constitution. Instead, they saw themselves as permanent rulers. The third premise of the Zanu PF constitution is the superimposition of internal party positions and policies on the rest of the country. Thus the internal party issue of indigenization, compulsory youth training programme, homophobia and the hatred towards the principle of devolution. Private Zanu PF policies were now surreptitiously being imposed on the people of Zimbabwe. A constitution is not a battleground for party policy issues. That is the role and function of a manifesto. Surely that must be self evident to clowns at corner Samora Machel Avenue and Rotten Row Street. Part of the tragedy of the Zanu PF position lies in the fact of ignoring that the Copac draft of 18 July was a massive work of negotiation and give and take. Each of the political parties at the table made some gains that are saleable to its constituency. Equally each of the parties got stuck in some unpalatable positions which it accepted quid pro quo. For one party thereof to seek to hold veto over an exercise of negotiation is as malicious as it is mischievous. In my first article on the constitution, I posited the position that there are six principles that we must use to judge the Copac draft of the 18th of July. These principles are: # Does it create a break with the past and establish a new order?   # Does it protect the people against imperial power?   # Does it establish and protect a clear separation of power and authority in state structures?   # Does it create independent institutions, particularly, those bulking against power and big government?   # Does it articulate the developmental aspirations of the people? # Does it create mechanisms for state and generational succession and regeneration? To do justice to the Zanu PF draft, it is also important to subject the same to the scrutiny of the above principles. Before doing so, let me just descriptively summarise 30 major amendments that are contained in the Zanu PF revisionist document. # Removed devolution entirely from the draft and deleted all references to devolution.   # Reinsterted provisions proscribing the re-establishment of an elected Executive Mayor.   # Re-inserted the provisions authorising the dismissal of elected Councillors by a Minister.   # Removed the Peace and Reconciliation Commission   # Removed all indigenous languages from being official languages.   # Introduced mandatory National Youth Service. # Removed the open, transparent and public interview process for the appointment of judges and replaced it with a Presidential appointment system. # Done away with a Constitutional Court and reverted to the status quo in terms of which the Supreme Court doubles up as a Constitutional Court. # Removed the key provisions in the COPAC draft providing for an Independent Prosecuting authority and retained the office of the Attorney General as presently constituted. # Banned dual citizenship for those who are Zimbabwean citizens by descent or registration.   # Took away citizenship granted by the COPAC draft to so called “aliens” from the SADC region.   # Mutilated the Bill of Rights in many places by deleting all references to democratic society. # Redefined agricultural land to include any land used for poultry and epiculture so that they would be able to take any property used to rear chickens or pigeons. # Took away the important COPAC provision that restated the right of every Zimbabwe, black, white, yellow and green of owing any agricultural land. # Removed the important Land Commission whose functions were, among other things, to audit all agricultural land and to regulate the sale or use of any agricultural land. # Taken out the Presidential running mate provisions and replaced them with the current system with the new provision that in the event of the office becoming vacant, the replacement will be chosen by the party to which the President belonged. # Reposed all executive authority in the President by deleting the provision which vested it in the President and Cabinet. # Removed provisions in the COPAC draft limiting the terms of office of parastatal heads, service chiefs and army commanders and heads of other government controlled institutions. # Restored the current Presidential immunity provisions.   # Restored the Presidential power to declare war without any restraint or constraint.   # Made all State institutions subject to the obligation to promote and defend the values of the liberation struggle.   # Stripped the Speaker of the National Assembly of all administrative powers and vested these in the Clerk of Parliament.   # Introduced unfettered powers of the President to dissolve Parliament at his or her whim.   # Removed provisions limiting permanent secretaries to two five-year terms. # Taken out the provisions requiring a law regulate the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) and requiring the CIO to be non-partisan, professional and national in character. # Inserted provisions which require independent commissions and the judiciary as well to promote and to be guided by the ideals and values of the liberation struggle. # Reintroduced the useless and failed Office of Public Protector.   # Removed the democratic provisions for the appointment of the Anti-Corruption Commission.   # Put a proscription on foreign funding of political parties.   # Put provisions that specifically and criminalise homosexuality.   I now present the heresy and infamy presented by the Zanu PF amendments to the agreed COPAC draft constitution.   Does it create a break with the past and establish a new order? With great respect, the Zanu PF draft does not in any way create a break with the past nor seek to establish a new legal order. On the contrary, it is even worse than the current constitution. Its connection with the past is that is it is pre-dating the past. The current legal order in Zimbabwe is characterised by weak institutions, predation and the concentration of power in one office and individual. The COPAC draft sought to vaccinate against this ill based on the uncontestable founding principle of the supremacy of the constitution predicated on human rights, good governance, orderly transfer of power and gender equality. The Zanu PF draft seeks to reverse these founding principles by the creation of a super constitutional principle known as “the founding values and ideals of the liberations struggle”. To most of us, the values and ideals of the liberation struggle are equality, democracy and the rule of law, gender equality, good governance and orderly transfer of power. By recognising other values and ideals that are beyond this, then Zanu PF can only be referring to the values of predation, patrimonialism, corruption, violence, state vandalism, patronage and exclusion. In fact as argued above, the people of Zimbabwe are better off with the Lancaster House constitution than the Zanu PF draft. We certainly cannot go the past. Does it protect the people against imperial power? In my previous article I argued that the COPAC draft dealt with imperial power in four facets namely a broadened definition of citizenship, a comprehensive bill of rights, a democratic and accountable president with shared and trimmed executive powers and the creation of security services accountable to the constitution, parliament and the electorate. In all above issues, the Zanu PF draft reverses the same and in some instances creates a legal order that is even worse than the current status quo. On citizenship, the biggest insult is the exclusion of persons born in Zimbabwe from parents or grandparents that came from the COPAC region. Zimbabwe, like South Africa had thousands of immigrant workers from Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique. To therefore deny them citizenship is not only bad law but anti-regionalism and anti-pan-Africanism. Moreover, denying dual citizenship to Zimbabweans whose citizenship was acquired by descent or registration is equally pretentious and malicious. More so when that very same constitution makes it clear that all citizens are equal irrespective of whether your citizenship was acquired by birth descent or registration. The bill of rights has been tempered with by removing any reference on its interpretation to practices in other democratic countries. In addition, women’s protection to their right to reproductive health has been removed. Also the general provision that gave everyone the right to information including government information has been removed. Freedom of expression and freedom of the press now are now defined not to include what Zanu PF describes as public indecency and morality. In the COPAC draft, the right to privacy included the right not to have one’s medical condition disclosed. Zanu PF has removed this basic and fundamental right. In addition, the right of every Zimbabwean to own land and agricultural property has been removed. Thus the Zanu PF draft is weak and is fraught with hatred and concepts that are foreign to modern jurisprudence. Perhaps the biggest crime of the Zanu PF draft is the restoration and creation of a bigger and more monstrous imperial president. Their president no longer shares power with Cabinet, can dissolve Parliament at any time, appoints judges and appoints all members of commissions. He can declare war without going to Parliament. In short it is a president that is above the law and the constitution itself. How anyone in this day and age can be so subordinated by one individual is amazing. Many years ago Margaret Dongo, the fiery human rights activist once described Zanu PF men as “wives of Robert Mugabe”. The current constitution seeks to make us slaves and subjects of an imperial president. I have lived the past 45 years of my life in dictatorship under an imperial president. I am not prepared to live my next 45 years under the same power. My children, my grandchildren and my great grandchildren will urinate on my grave if I succumb to this insanity. The COPAC draft sought to reconstitute and redesign the state by creating security services that were subject to and accountable to the constitution, the people and the elected Executive. The COPAC draft went even further to create a public complaints body against the omissions and commissions of the security sector. It went further to subject security chiefs like the president to limited tenure of office of two five-year terms, a provision that also applied to permanent secretaries, heads of parastatals and those heading government bodies. Zanu PF has removed all these provisions. It has created a security service that is privately owned by the president as if Mugabe will live forever. It has also removed the public complaints body as well as the terms of office of security and civilian functionaries. In short, there is a vicious protection and retention of the old order. Does it establish and protect the clear separation power and authority in state structures? Sadly the Zanu PF draft fundamentally alters the COPAC principle of clear separation of power. In the COPAC draft the President cannot dissolve parliament save for mandatory elections. Parliament appoints judges and therefore there is a clear separation of authority. The office of the Independent Prosecuting Authority ensures that the President cannot control and politicize prosecutions. The Zanu PF draft retains everything on the insatiable table of the imperial president. How sad? Does it create independent institutions, particularly, those baulking against power and big government? The COPAC draft constitution creates important independent institutions that protect citizens. These include the Anti-Corruption Commission, the Independent Prosecuting Authority, National Peace and Reconciliation Commission, Zimbabwe Gender Commission. It also goes further to strengthen existing commissions such as the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission and the Zimbabwe Media Commission.The Zanu PF draft seriously assaults the appointment process of the Anti-Corruption Commission and alters the powers of the Media Commission. By removing the Independent Prosecuting Authority Zanu PF amendments seek to propagate the Zanufication and politicization of prosecutions. Sadly the Zanu PF draft also removes the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission which is critical in post conflict reconstruction and in vaccinating against what I called the hard and soft genocide in this country. This commission resonates with every right thinking person in Zimbabwe. Sadly the chaos faction in Zanu PF which was responsible for producing the constitution Frankenstein being discussed herein lives in the past. Does it articulate the developmental aspirations of the people? Zimbabwe for many years has been subjected to uneven development. Without a doubt, the state has produced itself through Harare and the Mashonaland provinces. Life in Zimbabwe evolves around Harare from the application of passports and the granting of liquor licenses and other mundane tasks which can be decentralized. To deal with this mischief, the COPAC draft sought to create a devolved state in clear recognition of the noble principle of equal development. The COPAC constitution sought to create powerful elected mayors who could chat the developmental agenda of their communities and elected Councillors who could not be fired willy-nilly at the special instance of a minister. Sadly, that has been removed. The whole of Zimbabwe is undeveloped and will continue to suffer under the weight of a dual enclave economy. Devolution is one important answer to destroying the thick barriers of enclavity. Those who say it promotes tribalism are being disingenuous. The whole world is replete with devolved states. Does it create mechanisms for state and generational succession and regeneration? The COPAC draft sought to do this by providing limits to state functionaries, the president, security chiefs, members of independent commissions and heads of parastatals. As indicated above, Zanu PF has removed terms of limits from most of the above. The issue of running mates, which has been tempered with, clearly guarantees the superiority of the imperial president. Furthermore by stating that a political party must choose which of the two vice presidents will succeed a departing president, scenes of instability are being sown. In a factional party like Zanu PF asking them to choose a successor is setting the stage for a “civil war”. Moreover, the proposed provision now creates discrimination against independent presidential candidates. More importantly, is this no Zanu PF way of ensuring that an individual vice president from a minority tribe in Zimbabwe can never become president. I want to conclude from where I started with questions, what is law, when is a law not a law? A law is not a law when it based on undefined parameters and if it seeks to impose hatred and phobia. The Zanu PF counter draft does all these things and must be rejected and dismissed with the contempt it deserves.

ZIMBABWE TOWARDS NEW ELECTIONS: CAUSES OF ZANU PF`S DEMISE!!!

ZIMBABWE TOWARDS NEW ELECTIONS: CAUSES OF ZANU PF`S DEMISE!!!: This failure at re-inventing itself to resonate with the ‘new voter’ whose attachment to liberation politics is not as emotional, has ha...

CAUSES OF ZANU PF`S DEMISE!!!

This failure at re-inventing itself to resonate with the ‘new voter’ whose attachment to liberation politics is not as emotional, has haunted most of the liberation movements in Africa.

This presents the greatest threat to the survival of ZANU PF as a (former) liberation movement, and as well its quest for continued hegemony. This threat is further compounded by entrenched gerontocracy and ethnicity commonly referred to as factionalism. This piece will argue that ZANU PF is not a coherent and solid unit as it has been in the past but will be fighting for its life in the forthcoming elections. This is so, in light of its failure to regenerate itself and the internecine eth nic struggles within it. Furthermore it will be argued that ethnicity (commonly referred to as factional ism) makes ZANU PF vulnerable in electoral politics. Its over dependence on the Mashonaland vote presents its major vulnerability as Mashonaland is not Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe is not only Mashonaland as Jonathan Moyo once re marked on Harare not being Zimbabwe. Liberation or independence parties that failed to transform themselves and accommodate a younger cadre ship that understands the new voters have faced extinction in the face of emerging opposition parties in Africa. United National Independence Party (UNIP) of Zambia is a good case of a liberation move ment, and Malawi Congress Party (MCP) an independence party, that lost power and are facing extinction. In the same vein the Kenya African National Union (KANU) faced the same demise but had to find orphanage and rehabilitation in the Jubilee Alliance led by Uhuru Kenyatta.

Tanganyika African national Union (TANU) initially failed to appreciate the need for regeneration but quickly realised the need to transform hence re christening itself ChamaChama Mapinduzi (CCM) and undertook various key reforms that resonated with the new generation citizens (the so called born frees by ZANU PF). The ANC of South Africa, SWAPO of Namibia, BNP of Botswana and FRELIMO of Mozambique have also realised the dangers of the trappings of power and entrenching incumbency in office, hence they instituted leadership renewal within their political DNA. It is the failure by ZANU PF to realise this publicly available wisdom that ‘matakadya kare haanyaradzi mwana’ (literally translated, a child won’t stop crying from hunger because she ate yesterday). The past can only be relevant and comforting if it is only linked to the fulfilment of needs in the present. More so, the failure of retiring its old guard has meant continuous recycling of failed ideas and lead ers, thus creating a paralysis of pol icy crafting and implementation within the state apparatus.

The results are glaring with what appears to be rampant looting, plunder by ZANU PF elites and mortgaging of natural resources to the Chinese under the guise of ‘Looking East’. In addition the entrenching of gerontocracy within ZANU PF has meant that leadership renewal is anathema, therefore curtailing ambitions of vertical mobility within its ranks. The nicodemous political scheming meetings attest to the increasing discontent within the ranks of ZANU PF of failing to deal with regenerating itself. This also has the potential of alienating itself especially with the ‘new voter’ or ‘born frees’ who have be come a key constituent in our electoral politics. This new group of voters is the sword of Damocles hanging over ZANU PF’s head. Ethnicity is the other factor that presents a major threat to ZANU PF having a coherent and sound electoral campaign strategy.

Though, this factor has been interpreted as factionalism in various political circles, in this paper it is argued that what is tearing ZANU PF is resistance of Zezuru hegemony by other ethnic groups within it. This Zezuru alliance is rooted within the Mashonaland provinces, and has been at the centre of ZANU PF’s politics. The history of this ethnic hegemony finds expression from the days of the liberation as captured in the late Professor Masipula Sithole’s book, “Struggle within the Struggle”, which argued that there was purging of the non Zezuru factor and promotion of the Zezuru aligned group within the political hierarchy of ZANU. This escalation of ethnic politics in post independent Zimbabwe saw the clipping and curtailing of presidential aspirants such as Edison Zvobgo, Emmerson Mnangagwa and Simba Makoni. The collapse of the Tsholotsho Declaration and subsequent meteoric elevation of Joyce Mujuru to the presidium un der the guise of women empower ment, further entrenched the Zezuru clique within ZANU PF. It should be noted that Emmerson Mnangagwa (a Karanga) had out manoeuvred Joyce Mujuru (a Zezuru) and managed to unite other ethnic groups within ZANU PF who felt that it was now their time to take over. The disbanding of District Coordinating Committees (DCCs) by ZANU PF in 2012 marked a further assault to the Mnangagwa/Karanga ethnic group allied with Manyikas and Ndebele elements in ZANU PF, that had managed to regroup and capture the DCCs after earlier failed Tsholotsho attempts. Reasons advanced were that DCCs were divisive, yet the reality is that it was the eruption of the ethnic tensions that have been simmering in the ZANU PF pot.

The fidgeting and instability in Manicaland and Bulawayo province attest to the increasing discontent and disapproval of continued Zezuru hegemony in ZANU PF by other ethnic groups within it. Similarly, the Manicaland provincial leadership has been dissolved and the Bulawayo provincial leadership re aligned and putting a leadership that is pliant to Zezuru interests. Hence, my argument that it’s ethnicity at play in ZANU PF, and not factionalism, as conventionally argued. More so, this contradicts the claims of a re aligned ZANU PF from ‘Bhora Musango to iBhola egedini/Bhora mugedhi’, remaining only on Nathaniel Manheru’s wish list. Simply put the Mnangagwa alliance will always play second fiddle in the succession matrix of ZANU PF as it is not trusted by the Zezuru alliance whose face is Joyce Mujuru at the moment. In the same vein President Mugabe is only comfortable with the Mnangagwa alliance; in so far it acts as a brake to the ambitions of the Mujuru alliance and not entirely re placing the Zezuru hegemony of which he is a product. The only thing that is binding these ethnic alliances in ZANU PF is Mugabe and outside him, ZANU PF will implode from intense ethnic war fare. This puts ZANU PF in a precarious position and also failing to rally its constituencies to a single and solid unit.

The matrix of gerontocracy failed succession politics and ethnicity presents major fault lines within the ZANU PF apparatus. This may also explain the waning of ZANU PF support particularly post 1990, as the ideals of the liberation simply became more of political nostalgia rather than bread on the table. Therefore, it seems ZANU PF’s prospects look dim as exhausted nationalism starts to breed diminishing returns. Increasingly the voter has metamorphosed, and this has been most particularly with the so called born frees who are now numerically a political force as 15 group have emerged after the first group of those born in 1980 attaining 18 years in 1998. That means from 1998 new voters have been emerging for the past 15 years.

This is outside other age groups that were born towards independence, arguably from 1974, who were too young to develop ties with the liberation struggle. It is from this perspective that ZANU PF looks vulnerable if this group of voters is tapped into. Furthermore, old age is most likely to catch up with ZANU PF’s choice for the presidency in managing a rigorous campaign, hence its continued reliance on authoritarian tactics in an attempt to harvest fear in the elections. The increasingly intense ethnic/factional fights in ZANU PF, further undermines the prospects of re alignment of its constituencies as warring groups adopt a scorched earth mentality. Just like in a nasty divorce the warring parties would make sure the other doesn’t profit.

It has been argued in this paper that ZANU PF is not a solid and coherent party as it was in 1980 or 1985 but is in its last days as it has failed to regenerate itself and manage the ethnic cleavages within it. Its pro spects in the forthcoming elections look dim, and its survival will be more dependent on the electoral strategies and blunders of the pro-democracy movement. There is need to push for electoral reforms, continuous piling pressure on the ZANU PF machinery and as well building the capacity to communicate effectively with the electorate and monitor the electoral process by the pro-democracy movement.

ZIMBABWE TOWARDS NEW ELECTIONS: ZIMBABWE WITHDRAWS ITS UNDP ELECTION CASH APPEAL!!...

ZIMBABWE TOWARDS NEW ELECTIONS: ZIMBABWE WITHDRAWS ITS UNDP ELECTION CASH APPEAL!!...: THE government has withdrawn a request to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for help to finance elections due later this y...

ZIMBABWE WITHDRAWS ITS UNDP ELECTION CASH APPEAL!!

THE government has withdrawn a request to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for help to finance elections due later this year and will now source the money locally, a cabinet minister said Tuesday. Zimbabwe had appealed to the UN agency for help to raise about US$132 million needed for the key elections which will choose a successor to the fractious coalition administration. The appeal was however withdrawn after the government balked at the conditions demanded by the UNDP. Justice and Legal Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa told reporters Wednesday that the decision was made in consultation with the principals to the Global Political Agreement. “Any team can only come in on mutually agreed terms of reference,” he said. “In this case, we have failed to realise mutually agreed terms and we have rejected what they want to impose on us. We are a member state and unacceptable terms cannot be forced onto us. They wanted to be involved in our domestic political affairs, but we know our needs and requirements.”

The UNDP was said to have demanded meetings with civil society organisations considered hostile by Zanu PF such as the Zimbabwe Election Support Network, Nango and Women’s Coalition. Chinamasa said he, along with Finance Minister Tendai Biti, met the leader of the UN team that was due in the country to assess Zimbabwe's financial needs for the polls. The meeting discussed the terms of reference for the UN mission that was already encamped in South Africa en-route to Zimbabwe. The terms included the election budget, the category of stakeholders that they would meet and the extent to which they would be able to assist Zimbabwe.

"We met on Sunday with Biti; we had a very acrimonious meeting but we finally agreed on the terms of reference for the UN team," Chinamasa said.
"When we then summoned the UN team leader to notify him of what we had agreed, Biti and I were shocked that they were saying that they could only come to Zimbabwe on their earlier conditions. "We have since told our principals and the instruction we have is that the conditions remain unacceptable. The issue of getting poll funding from the UN is no longer an open book it is now a closed chapter. We have already started mobilising for resources locally.” Chinamasa slammed Biti for claiming that Zanu PF had blocked the UN team when in fact all the parties had agreed to the position taken. "Manoeuvres that infringe on our sovereignty will not be tolerated whatever Biti may want to say is his own prerogative. "It is very clear as Zimbabweans that we have to remain very alert to attempts to infiltrate our internal processes and I am happy that we have closed this chapter and will not open it again," he said. The government would now have to source the election cash locally. “The ball is back in our court and what we have to do is to look for local resources to conduct our elections and that we have already started doing," he said.

ZIMBABWE TOWARDS NEW ELECTIONS: UNDP TEAM DENIED ENTRY INTO ZIMBABWE!!!

ZIMBABWE TOWARDS NEW ELECTIONS: UNDP TEAM DENIED ENTRY INTO ZIMBABWE!!!: THE apparent success of Zanu PF in blocking a UNDP team from coming to Zimbabwe on a poll-funding related assessment mission suggests th...

UNDP TEAM DENIED ENTRY INTO ZIMBABWE!!!

THE apparent success of Zanu PF in blocking a UNDP team from coming to Zimbabwe on a poll-funding related assessment mission suggests the MDC formations have yet again capitulated to Zanu PF’s signature bullyboy tactics. The decision to bar the team from a body which partly funded the country’s costly constitution-making exercise by availing no less than US$22 million, sends the wrong signals at a time the country is purportedly seeking to re-engage the international community and effectively repair its battered image. More importantly, by allowing Zanu PF to bulldoze its agenda, the MDC parties are complicit in setting the stage for another sham election whose implications would be ghastly for a nation just emerging out of the woods. On Monday there were claims Zanu PF had yielded to pressure from the MDC groups — a rarity in the life of the coalition government, by allowing the UN elections assessment team, stuck in neighboring South Africa, to visit the country to audit the political environment before funding forthcoming polls following Zimbabwe’s request for US$250 million.

The reality check was not long in coming. A day later MDC leader, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, told the media “we have agreed to look for money internally, but without ignoring external support”, as there was no consensus in government on the terms of reference for a UN inspection team. It is mostly dictatorships — the likes of reclusive North Korea that are averse to external scrutiny for they have much to hide, not aspiring democracies like Zimbabwe. The failure by the MDC leaders to square up to Zanu PF’s depredations and self-serving political strategy has been a recurring theme in the life of the unity government. The MDC parties have raised the white flag on, among other disputed issues, GNU ministerial allocations, governors, the Attorney-General and RBZ governor, blatant violation of Sadc resolutions and outstanding GPA reforms. To cap it all was Tsvangirai’s shocker this week in announcing he and President Robert Mugabe had agreed an election roadmap would be crafted by two cabinet ministers from their parties to inform dates for crucial elections this year. In what appeared to be readiness to bend over backwards to accommodate Zanu PF, Tsvangirai seems to have conveniently forgotten the tripartite Global Political Agreement (GPA) he signed in 2008 contains a roadmap to elections which Sadc — guarantors of the GPA — resolutely insist on.

Like an insatiable beast, Zanu PF will only wring yet more concessions from the pliant MDCs. And as we’ve pointed out before, Tsvangirai’s poisoned-chalice role of superintending preparations for elections might come back to haunt him. He has effectively relinquished the option to cry foul should Zanu PF steal the vote, as it has been accused of doing in previous elections. Just how the MDCs expect the imminent elections to be free and fair when the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission — which they believe rigged the last election — remains wholly unreconstructed and staffed with largely the same pro-Zanu PF security agents is a mystery. What’s more, the stakes are much higher this time as defeat could be tantamount to political demise, which could make for a cutthroat contestation, literally.

ZIMBABWE TOWARDS NEW ELECTIONS: WHY MUGABE IS AFRAID OF THE UN POLL SCRUTINY!!

ZIMBABWE TOWARDS NEW ELECTIONS: WHY MUGABE IS AFRAID OF THE UN POLL SCRUTINY!!: THE Zanu PF element of the inclusive government has unilaterally withdrawn Zimbabwe’s application for electoral funding from the United ...

WHY MUGABE IS AFRAID OF THE UN POLL SCRUTINY!!

THE Zanu PF element of the inclusive government has unilaterally withdrawn Zimbabwe’s application for electoral funding from the United Nations (UN) as part of a well-calculated move to avoid scrutiny in the run-up to, during and after the next crucial general elections, it has emerged.

Fearing the UN mission, which is demanding meetings with political parties and civil society organizations before releasing money to fund elections, would shift the spotlight to dark corners of the country, President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF ministers last week blocked the team from Turtle Bay, the UN’s headquarters in a New York neighborhood on Manhattan. Sources said Mugabe and his Zanu PF officials feared the UN team led by Tadjoudine Ali-Diabacte, a former member of the Togolese Election Commission who has served as an election observer for the National Democratic Institute –– would use the opportunity to visit Zimbabwe to gather information about the political and security situation in the country instead of only focusing on electoral issues.

The UN team wanted to meet political parties and civic groups. It also intended to visit the three Mashonaland provinces, Manicaland, Masvingo and Midlands, including areas where violence erupted during the disputed 2008 presidential election run-off. Zanu PF was scared of this and then blocked the mission, sources said. “The reason why Mugabe and his closest courtiers don’t want the UN team is that they want to avoid close scrutiny before, during and after elections,” a senior government official said. “If they allow the UN team in they fear it would gather detailed information on the political and security situation, and then use it to refocus international attention and debate on Zimbabwe ahead of elections.”

As hinted at by Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa this week, Mugabe and his loyalists are afraid of the sort of exposure and condemnation they suffered after the visit to the country in 2005 by UN envoy Anna Tibaijuka following Murambatsvina devastations. Tibaijuka’s damning report said the shacks demolition campaign which targeted victims with mass forced evictions affected 900 000 men, women and children even though to date the recommendations made by the UN Secretary General’s special envoy on human settlement issues are still not yet fully implemented. Zimbabwe, which has been slapped with sanctions by Western countries over policy differences and human rights violations, also survived being put on the UN Security Council agenda in 2008 after a blood-soaked presidential election run-off in June that.

Around the same time the country also survived UN scrutiny over a cholera outbreak which killed 4 0000 and affected 100 000 after former United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) chief in Harare, Agostinho Zacarias, who had close links with Zanu PF, failed to take preventive measures. Sources said these experiences influenced Mugabe and his ministers to block the UN team even if the UNDP partly funded the constitution-making exercise and has always mobilised humanitarian support for Zimbabwe. “The Zanu PF section of government has a cocktail of measures to prevent outside scrutiny. They don’t want the UN, they also don’t want Western election observers, they are determined to limit the presence of Western journalists and restrict the involvement of Sadc during Zimbabwe’s elections,” another official said.

“That is why the UN, Sadc troika representatives, (South African President Jacob) Zuma’s facilitation team, foreign journalists and Western observers are being restricted. It is an irony because this is happening at a time when the West is now willing to engage Mugabe and accept his victory if he wins freely and fairly.”

Recently a group of Western countries, Friends of Zimbabwe, including the European Union (EU), United States and Asia-Pacific states, among others, met with Zanu PF, MDC-T and MDC representatives, as well as Sadc envoys, in London to assess the situation in the country and map the way forward. The EU even lifted sanctions on ministers and Zanu PF-associated entities, except on Mugabe, his family and security services chiefs and state mining companies.

The US this week sent an envoy Andrew Young to Harare in a bid to mend diplomatic relations. This followed the blocking of the UN team. Government had on February 4 made an official request to the UN for US$250 million the constitutional referendum and general elections through a letter jointly written by Finance minister Tendai Biti and Chinamasa to UNDP country representative Alain Noudehou.  In response on February 11, the UN said a Needs Assessment Mission (NAM) would have to visit the country before funding could be released. Chinamasa and Biti wrote another letter on April 4, indicating Zimbabwe’s readiness to welcome the NAM. However, when Zanu PF realised the UN team wanted to meet a variety of players, among them, political parties and civic groups such as the Zimbabwe Election Support Network, ZimRights, National Association of Non-Governmental Organistaions, and Women of Zimbabwe Arise – groups at forefront of resisting repression and human rights abuses – it changed its mind and started making excuses.

“It was clear the UN team would glean too much information and also effectively monitor the elections by virtue of their funding. Zanu PF wants as little scrutiny as possible, hence the U-turn on funding,” a source said. Noudehou confirmed different expectations that led to the deadlock. “In the course of deploying the mission to Zimbabwe, it became clear that there were different expectations on the modalities of the NAM,” he said. “Further efforts were made by the UN to engage with the government and explain the purpose and scope of the NAM. As of now, no agreement has been reached on the modalities.” Last month Zanu PF collapsed Jomic meetings after insisting Zuma’s facilitation team and Sadc troika representatives should not be involved in full Jomic meetings. Sources said this was also because Zanu PF feared scrutiny. To limit further scrutiny, Zanu PF is also resisting an extraordinary Sac summit before election and making it difficult for Zec to accredit foreign observers by and journalists to monitor and cover the election respectively.

ZIMBABWE TOWARDS NEW ELECTIONS: ZIMBABWE TOWARDS NEW ELECTIONS: ZANU PF ON THE VER...

ZIMBABWE TOWARDS NEW ELECTIONS: ZIMBABWE TOWARDS NEW ELECTIONS: ZANU PF ON THE VER...: ZIMBABWE TOWARDS NEW ELECTIONS: ZANU PF ON THE VERGE OF COLLAPSE!!! :  It seems the fat lady  has begun tuning her voice! Maybe the fall of ...

ZIMBABWE TOWARDS NEW ELECTIONS: ZANU PF ON THE VERGE OF COLLAPSE!!!

ZIMBABWE TOWARDS NEW ELECTIONS: ZANU PF ON THE VERGE OF COLLAPSE!!!:  It seems the fat lady  has begun tuning her voice! Maybe the fall of ZANU PF did not need Morgan Tsvangirai or NCUBE but rather ZANU PF...

ZANU PF ON THE VERGE OF COLLAPSE!!!

 It seems the fat lady  has begun tuning her voice! Maybe the fall of ZANU PF did not need Morgan Tsvangirai or NCUBE but rather ZANU PF itself, can this be the end? apparently YES it is! The politburo was last week supposed to receive a report from the commissariat department headed by Webster Shamu, as well as the party’s election manifesto, before discussing strategy issues and guidelines for primaries. But some issues were deferred due to a combination of “internal and external complications”, including renewed internal strife which has erupted in its volatile regions, including Bulawayo and Manicaland. The party is battling power struggles in nearly all its provinces. Zanu PF is divided into two major factions, one said to be led by Vice-President Joice Mujuru and the other by Defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa. As President Robert Mugabe gets increasingly old and frail, factionalism is worsening. A clause in the new draft constitution which says if Mugabe retires after his re-election, is incapacitated or dies, he will be replaced by a Zanu PF candidate, is said to have added fuel to fire.

Politburo members yesterday spent much time battling over factional wrangles which have rocked Bulawayo and Manicaland provinces after national chairman Simon Khaya Moyo presented a report on the problems bedeviling Bulawayo. Khaya Moyo led a politburo team which investigated divisions in Bulawayo where daggers were drawn out against provincial chairman Killian Sibanda, seen as close to politburo member Obert Mpofu. Khaya Moyo and Mpofu are fierce rivals as they are said to be eyeing the position of vice-president left vacant following the death of John Nkomo. The politburo yesterday resolved to demote Sibanda to the vice-chairmanship, and seconded veteran nationalist Callistos Ndlovu — a divisive figure in Matabeleland due to his defection from Zanu to Zapu — to chairman, while the rest of the executive were retained. Zanu PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo said the provincial executive will however be expanded in a move seen as an attempt to balance competing factional interests.

The politburo also mandated Khaya Moyo and his team to travel to Manicaland today to investigate bickering in the province. Senior Zanu PF officials from the province, among them Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa, Energy deputy minister Hubert Nyanhongo, suspended provincial chairperson Mike Madiro, acting provincial chairperson Dorothy Mabika, Buhera North MP William Mutomba, war veterans’ leader Joseph Chinotimba and Zanu PF women’s league boss Oppah Muchinguri last week petitioned Mugabe to rein in the party’s secretary for administration, Didymus Mutasa, whom they accused of fanning divisions. Mutasa is sympathetic to the Mujuru faction while those calling for his censure are in the Mnangagwa faction. Gumbo however yesterday downplayed Zanu PF infighting, referring to it as “challenges” or “non-antagonistic contradictions”. Major factional clashes erupted last year in Zanu PF over District Co-ordinating Committees elections, leading to disbanding of the structures.

ZIMBABWE TOWARDS NEW ELECTIONS: GOOD CASE FOR NCUBE OG TSVANGIRAI TO UNITE

ZIMBABWE TOWARDS NEW ELECTIONS: GOOD CASE FOR NCUBE OG TSVANGIRAI TO UNITE: The argument why Tsvangirai and Ncube cannot unite is often feeble, rooted in petty personal differences rather than serious ideological...

GOOD CASE FOR NCUBE OG TSVANGIRAI TO UNITE

The argument why Tsvangirai and Ncube cannot unite is often feeble, rooted in petty personal differences rather than serious ideological and policy issues. Serious and genuine talks involving the top leadership of both parties can easily resolve the issues at stake. If Tsvangirai and Ncube could work with Mugabe, why would they not work together for the broader cause of democracy and national progress? If these two leaders fail again to unite, but collectively claim victory as they did during the March 2008 general elections, they will have lost the best opportunity to secure change and history will judge them harshly. Putting aside partisan issues, is it not statistically clear the MDC formations won both the presidential and parliamentary elections in March 2008? The reason why I emphasise Ncube as a key player is not to demean other democratic forces, but empirically argue my case for the need to have a democratic coalition to confront Mugabe.

Statistical analysis of the performance of Ncube’s formation in 2008 shows if his group supported either Mugabe or Tsvangirai, the one who would have had his backing would have won the first round. This observation is without prejudice to Makoni who was the presidential candidate. The reality is Makoni won huge votes in areas where Ncube’s parliamentary and council candidates also won. So it was largely due to Ncube’s influence there, hence his significance as a political player, especially in the context of coalitions ahead of the polls. The significance of Ncube is further expressed in the overall 2008 presidential election result in which Tsvangirai got 1 195 562 votes (47,87%), Mugabe 1 079 730 (43,34%) and Makoni 207 470 (8,31%).

This result, further illustrated by the nearly 200 000 people who voted “No” to the current draft constitution, shows if Tsvangirai, Ncube and Makoni were fighting in the same corner, Mugabe would already be history. Mugabe is still in power courtesy of divisions among democratic forces. This also happened in the 1992 Kenyan presidential election.
The March 2008 presidential result outcome at regional levels show Mugabe would have won in only three provinces — Mashonaland West, Central and East if Tsvangirai and Ncube had united. Worse still for Mugabe, his margins in those three Mashonaland provinces would have been narrowed down and became wafer-thin if the opposition joined forces.

In the March 2008 presidential election in Matabeleland South province, for instance, Tsvangirai got 28%, Mugabe 30% and Makoni 38%. A combination of Tsvangirai and Makoni who was supported by Ncube would have meant a deadly electoral blow for Mugabe as that would have given the opposition 68% of the vote. In Harare, Tsvangirai got 72%, Mugabe 19% and Makoni 8%, Bulawayo Tsvangirai 51%, Makoni 37% and Mugabe 11% and Mashonaland West Mugabe 52%, Tsvangirai 42% and Makoni 5%. This trend of Mugabe hugely losing to the combination of Ncube and Tsvangirai was recorded in Masvingo, Midlands, Manicaland, and Matabeleland provinces. The quantitative meaning of these results is clear: a coalition between Tsvangirai and Ncube will bury Mugabe.

ZIMBABWE TOWARDS NEW ELECTIONS: IS THE REVOLUTION EATING ITS OWN??

ZIMBABWE TOWARDS NEW ELECTIONS: IS THE REVOLUTION EATING ITS OWN??: THE country’s main political parties are now gearing up for primary polls ahead of key general elections amid fears there would be blood...

IS THE REVOLUTION EATING ITS OWN??

THE country’s main political parties are now gearing up for primary polls ahead of key general elections amid fears there would be blood on the floor with some bigwigs falling by the wayside. With Zanu PF, MDC-T and MDC facing primaries, their senior leaders have been battling to ring-fence themselves as they dread defeat in the preliminary rounds of selecting candidates before the watershed main elections. Due to renewed factionalism and infighting tearing Zanu PF apart, the party’s politburo yesterday failed to finalize the long-awaited guidelines on primaries which need to be aligned to the new constitution. The party will now hold yet another special politburo meeting to deal with the badgering problem. Sources said although the issue was expected to dominate the meeting, it was dropped for reasons which include internal strife and ongoing political and electoral processes, including the constitution-making exercise. In 2008, party spokesperson Rugare Gumbo, former education minister Aeneas Chigwedere, David Chapfika and Claudius Makova, among other bigwigs, lost in the primaries.

“We will talk about the selection criteria at a special politburo meeting in due course. We did not discuss the issue today (yesterday),” said Gumbo last night.The issue has been on the agenda since October last year when the politburo rejected secretary for commissariat Webster Shamu’s proposal for primaries to be held in November after the Copac Second All-Stakeholders’ Conference on the new constitution. Shamu’s proposals were strongly resisted by people believed to be in the faction led by Defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa who argued the issue had been tabled out of the blue. Shamu is believed to belong to the faction led by Vice-President Joice Mujuru and there were suspicions he wanted primary From Page 1elections at short notice to aid his camp by catching the Mnangagwa faction unprepared. “The issue of primaries is becoming a big problem for all the main parties. That is why there is so much quarrelling and infighting,” a source said yesterday. “There will be blood on the floor, starting next weekend when the MDC-T starts primaries that will claim a lot of political casualties and leave the parties further divided.” The new draft constitution passed at a referendum on March 16, which is complicating things for Zanu PF, will be introduced this month-end before it is adopted during the first week of next month, paving way for the mandatory 30-day voter registration and alignment of electoral laws to the new constitution.

Hardly three weeks after the referendum for a new constitution, the main parties in the coalition government made an array of secretive amendments to the proposed constitution. Clause 158 required elections to be held “30 days before the expiry of the five-year period (from the day, in this case June 29 2008, when the president-elect was sworn-in).” Mugabe has lost the bid to have elections on June 29. He has been demanding elections without the necessary democratic reforms since 2011 in vain. The voter registration exercise will further delay polls. Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa has said Treasury is delaying mobile voter registration exercise which should have started early January by failing to release the needed US$21 million to cover the country’s 1 958 wards. The Zanu PF politburo’s failure yesterday to conclude the primaries guidelines would further raise internal political tensions over the issue as ambitious young aspirants are itching to contest in preparation for the general elections between June 29 and October 29.

Although the MDC-T has finalized its talks around primary elections, it had to come up with a mechanism which sought to ring-fence the party’s bigwigs. Seats of members of the standing committee, who consist of the party’s top 12 officials, will not be contested while sitting legislators would be subjected to a confirmation process. Primaries would, however, be held in constituencies where top MDC-T leaders fail to secure enough confirmation support. MDC-T spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora said yesterday his party would hold primaries from April 20, although the exercise will not be done in a day. “We are holding them starting from the 20th of this month but we have not yet decided which constituencies we start with,” said Mwonzora. The MDC led by Welshman Ncube also wants to avoid primary elections as much as possible by asking aspiring candidates to select one candidate from competing applications through consensus. Where there would be no agreement, the party would then go to primaries as a last resort.