News / National
Elections by 31st Judgement a non-event
02 Jun 2013 at 05:50hrs | Views
The Supreme Court of Zimbabwe made an uncharacteristic judgement by declaring that the elections should be held by the 31st July. In his judgement Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku representing the panel of nine judges stated that according to the terms of Section 58.1 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, elections are due upon the dissolution of Parliament. The GNU automatically dissolves on the 29th June.
This political judgement was as a result of a case brought to the Supreme Court by what people suspect to be a ZANU PF 'mole' called Mr Jealous Mawarire, who claimed that his constitutional rights were being violated by Mr Mugabe by not declaring the date of the general elections.
There are a few things that I wish to raise before I delve deeper into my analysis, first, we all know that the Zimbabwe judiciary is not independent, second, we all know that Zimbabwean courts always move on a tortoise or snail pace and lastly we all know where the Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku's allegiance lies.
In this piece, I will show you why Zimbabwe will not, cannot and shall not hold the elections as prescribed by the 'Honourable' judge.
When Zimbabwe descended into chaos and invited the scrutiny of AU, SADC and UN, it completely lost its residue and ever contested sovereignty. The truth is that that lost sovereignty can only be recovered through a democratic, credible, free and fair election. The freeness of an election can be located in different stages of the electoral process; it is not an event as ZANU PF would like people to believe. The ground work begins well prior to the Election Day and proceeds to beyond the Election Day. Do you remember how Mugabe spectacularly stole the election after the election date in 2008? In the past he used to steal it before and during the elections.
The verdict by the Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku is effectively a non-event. It is an attempt by ZANU PF to out manoeuvre its political competitors and also to outwit the regional and international bodies, ZANU PF is buoyed by the indications that the international community is now preparing ground to re-engage them and ZANU PF will do whatever it takes to remain in power knowing that the wheels of the international community grind so slow and this time it will be difficult for the international community to reverse its intentions of re-engagement.
ZANU PF is also buoyed and misled by the polls that have indicated the decline of the opposition's popularity and showed ZANU Pf as the beneficiary of this decline. ZANU PF however, knows that their support base plummeted beyond recoverable position and therefore they will attempt sophisticated manipulation of the election results. The Supreme Court and its Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku may be part of that scheme.
Things have changed. One wonders why the Supreme Court in its infinity wisdom decided to use the old Constitution whilst Zimbabwe has just put into place a new Constitution. Was the rush meant to circumvent the wishes and feelings of Zimbabweans?
Why do I say the judgement made by the Supreme Court is a non-event? I will only focus on the core reasons, and these are not many:
• Outstanding issues
• Zimbabwe is not a Sovereign state
• The judgement was political motivated.
Let me start with the last point, we all know that ZANU PF has been banging on about the need to hold elections sooner, if they had power which they used to have in the past, they would probably have called the elections last year, but due to the fact that ZANU PF is no longer the sole authority in the country, Mugabe has been humiliated several times and has conceded defeat many times regarding the effective date for holding the elections.
Someone in ZANU PF, most probably it's Jonathan Moyo, who spotted a loophole and sought to utilise it. The International Community, SADC and AU have been keen to insist on the rule of law, and ZANU PF by using the Supreme Court is intending to lay the foundations of its arguments and if the International Community is not aware or just weary, it will endorse this position, however, I doubt that SADC will ever endorse this position because its endorsement will mean that all the efforts of the past four or so years will come to nothing, Zimbabwe will burn again.
The fact that ZANU PF dragged itself to court and got what it wanted from court does not then turn into or bestows legality on the whole process; however, the uninformed and uncritical ZANU PF minds will run into every synagogue proclaiming the holiness of the court verdict. This time around their raspy voices will dry up; they will not mean a thing. They will be resisted and eventually, they will abandon their stance with their tails in between their legs and in great shame. Mugabe will be forced to swallow his lost pride again, he has been humiliated before and he will be humiliated again and again.
We are all aware of what has become popularly known as the outstanding issues. When the GNU was constituted it was tasked to level the political playing field so that the elections could produce a credible result, but ZANU PF in its obduracy and idiocy has decided to circumvent this process and rendered it ineffective. By so doing ZANU has effectively shoot itself on the foot. These outstanding issues will remain an albatross on their necks and they will effectively set ZANU PF and SADC on a collision course. ZANU PF cannot win this battle. ZANU PF is cornered from both ends and it knows that very well, however, it does not seem that the opposition is aware of that.
I have clearly and categorically stated that Zimbabwe has lost its sovereignty, this forthright stand which is an undisputable truth, many even rile those in the opposition trenches, but the truth shall be said and I will not be the one to shy away from telling the truth. The true custodians of Zimbabwe Sovereignty are SADC and AU, and this lays bare the futility of ZANU PF's tactless and tasteless Supreme Court manoeuvres. Any Court derives its Constitutional mandate and authority from the state, not just from any state, but from a sovereign state, if the country is not sovereign therefore any pronouncements of sovereignty by the Supreme Court or whatever court are null and void and ineffectual both in politics and law.
The Supreme Court has over-stepped its bounds and it shall be made to retreat through its surrogate child- ZANU PF.
Last but not least, the opposition will not agree to an election before the 31st July, the main opposition parties such as ZAPU, MDC and MDC T will not participate in such a sham of polls. This will effectively leave ZANU PF as its sole opponent in the polls and to attempt to hoodwink the people ZANU PF will create a few useless political parties to participate in the elections, but the end result will be as clear as day light from night time, ZANU PF will not regain credibility and will not be readmitted in the international arena, the economy will crumble, more sanctions will be put in place and millions of Zimbabweans will migrate to South Africa and the opposition for the first time may be forced to adopt a revolutionary stand.
This political judgement was as a result of a case brought to the Supreme Court by what people suspect to be a ZANU PF 'mole' called Mr Jealous Mawarire, who claimed that his constitutional rights were being violated by Mr Mugabe by not declaring the date of the general elections.
There are a few things that I wish to raise before I delve deeper into my analysis, first, we all know that the Zimbabwe judiciary is not independent, second, we all know that Zimbabwean courts always move on a tortoise or snail pace and lastly we all know where the Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku's allegiance lies.
In this piece, I will show you why Zimbabwe will not, cannot and shall not hold the elections as prescribed by the 'Honourable' judge.
When Zimbabwe descended into chaos and invited the scrutiny of AU, SADC and UN, it completely lost its residue and ever contested sovereignty. The truth is that that lost sovereignty can only be recovered through a democratic, credible, free and fair election. The freeness of an election can be located in different stages of the electoral process; it is not an event as ZANU PF would like people to believe. The ground work begins well prior to the Election Day and proceeds to beyond the Election Day. Do you remember how Mugabe spectacularly stole the election after the election date in 2008? In the past he used to steal it before and during the elections.
The verdict by the Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku is effectively a non-event. It is an attempt by ZANU PF to out manoeuvre its political competitors and also to outwit the regional and international bodies, ZANU PF is buoyed by the indications that the international community is now preparing ground to re-engage them and ZANU PF will do whatever it takes to remain in power knowing that the wheels of the international community grind so slow and this time it will be difficult for the international community to reverse its intentions of re-engagement.
ZANU PF is also buoyed and misled by the polls that have indicated the decline of the opposition's popularity and showed ZANU Pf as the beneficiary of this decline. ZANU PF however, knows that their support base plummeted beyond recoverable position and therefore they will attempt sophisticated manipulation of the election results. The Supreme Court and its Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku may be part of that scheme.
Things have changed. One wonders why the Supreme Court in its infinity wisdom decided to use the old Constitution whilst Zimbabwe has just put into place a new Constitution. Was the rush meant to circumvent the wishes and feelings of Zimbabweans?
• Outstanding issues
• Zimbabwe is not a Sovereign state
• The judgement was political motivated.
Let me start with the last point, we all know that ZANU PF has been banging on about the need to hold elections sooner, if they had power which they used to have in the past, they would probably have called the elections last year, but due to the fact that ZANU PF is no longer the sole authority in the country, Mugabe has been humiliated several times and has conceded defeat many times regarding the effective date for holding the elections.
Someone in ZANU PF, most probably it's Jonathan Moyo, who spotted a loophole and sought to utilise it. The International Community, SADC and AU have been keen to insist on the rule of law, and ZANU PF by using the Supreme Court is intending to lay the foundations of its arguments and if the International Community is not aware or just weary, it will endorse this position, however, I doubt that SADC will ever endorse this position because its endorsement will mean that all the efforts of the past four or so years will come to nothing, Zimbabwe will burn again.
The fact that ZANU PF dragged itself to court and got what it wanted from court does not then turn into or bestows legality on the whole process; however, the uninformed and uncritical ZANU PF minds will run into every synagogue proclaiming the holiness of the court verdict. This time around their raspy voices will dry up; they will not mean a thing. They will be resisted and eventually, they will abandon their stance with their tails in between their legs and in great shame. Mugabe will be forced to swallow his lost pride again, he has been humiliated before and he will be humiliated again and again.
We are all aware of what has become popularly known as the outstanding issues. When the GNU was constituted it was tasked to level the political playing field so that the elections could produce a credible result, but ZANU PF in its obduracy and idiocy has decided to circumvent this process and rendered it ineffective. By so doing ZANU has effectively shoot itself on the foot. These outstanding issues will remain an albatross on their necks and they will effectively set ZANU PF and SADC on a collision course. ZANU PF cannot win this battle. ZANU PF is cornered from both ends and it knows that very well, however, it does not seem that the opposition is aware of that.
I have clearly and categorically stated that Zimbabwe has lost its sovereignty, this forthright stand which is an undisputable truth, many even rile those in the opposition trenches, but the truth shall be said and I will not be the one to shy away from telling the truth. The true custodians of Zimbabwe Sovereignty are SADC and AU, and this lays bare the futility of ZANU PF's tactless and tasteless Supreme Court manoeuvres. Any Court derives its Constitutional mandate and authority from the state, not just from any state, but from a sovereign state, if the country is not sovereign therefore any pronouncements of sovereignty by the Supreme Court or whatever court are null and void and ineffectual both in politics and law.
The Supreme Court has over-stepped its bounds and it shall be made to retreat through its surrogate child- ZANU PF.
Last but not least, the opposition will not agree to an election before the 31st July, the main opposition parties such as ZAPU, MDC and MDC T will not participate in such a sham of polls. This will effectively leave ZANU PF as its sole opponent in the polls and to attempt to hoodwink the people ZANU PF will create a few useless political parties to participate in the elections, but the end result will be as clear as day light from night time, ZANU PF will not regain credibility and will not be readmitted in the international arena, the economy will crumble, more sanctions will be put in place and millions of Zimbabweans will migrate to South Africa and the opposition for the first time may be forced to adopt a revolutionary stand.
Source - Thulani Nkala
