Latest News Editor's Choice


News / National

Mnangagwa: 'Gono still has very high chances of landing the Senate seat'

by George Maponga
04 Oct 2014 at 02:21hrs | Views

ZANU-PF Secretary for Legal Affairs Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday said former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr Gideon Gono's chances of landing the Manicaland Senate seat were alive, barely a week after saying the issue was a closed chapter.

Speaking during a tour of the Herbert Chitepo School of Law that is under construction at Great Zimbabwe University, Mnangagwa said Dr Gono still had "high" chances of landing the Manicaland Senate seat if the lacuna (a missing section of text) in the law as stipulated by ZEC is filled.

Laws, Mnangagwa said, were not made to suit specific individuals, adding that there were many people who would benefit together with Dr Gono once the gap in the law alluded to by ZEC was dealt with.

He, however, neither specified how the vacuum would be dealt with nor when it would be addressed to enable Dr Gono to fulfil his spirited dream of entering the Senate.

Mnangagwa accused the media of misinterpreting the statement made by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission over the issue.

Zanu-PF nominated Dr Gono to fill the Manicaland Senate which fell vacant following the death of national hero Kumbirai Kangai in August last year.

But Dr Gono's senate bid was thwarted after ZEC, through its chairperson Justice Rita Makarau, indicated that the former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor was not a registered voter in Manicaland.

Justice Makarau wrote to Zanu-PF indicating that Dr Gono's attempt to transfer himself as a voter in Manicaland through the Registrar-General's Office on December 5 last year was a legal nullity since the purported transfer violated the new Constitution.

The Zanu-PF Politburo also upheld Zec's position at its meeting on Wednesday.

Mnangagwa, who is also the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, took a dig at the media for failing to interpret the statement by Justice Makarau concerning Dr Gono's bid to become a senator.

"The problem with our press is that they are very uneducated and were not able to correctly interpret what Justice Makarau said with regards to the issue of Dr Gono," he said.

"Justice Makarau said there was a lacuna, a vacuum that needs to be looked into. She said there is necessity for the vacuum in Dr Gono's bid to be corrected.

"Dr Gono still has very high chances of landing the Senate seat, absolutely high chances, but the problem with our media is lack of education.''

Justice Makarau where she clearly indicated that Dr Gono could not fill the Senate vacant in Manicaland because he was not registered as a voter in any ward in the province.

Justice Makarau's letter also indicated that Dr Gono's attempt to transfer to the province as a registered voter on December 5 last year was a nullity because the Registrar General's Office which facilitated the transfer was no longer allowed to play that role by the Constitution.

Dr Gono was hoping that the Politburo meeting on Wednesday was going to overturn the decision by Zec after the electoral body last month wrote to Zanu-PF indicating that the former Reserve Bank Governor did not meet the legal criteria required by the new Constitution.

Dr Gono was nominated by Zanu-PF Manicaland province for the Senate post and was subsequently endorsed by the Zanu-PF Politburo before Zec pointed out that he was not eligible.

Turning to the Chitepo School of Law, Mnangagwa hailed Great Zimbabwe University and its Vice Chancellor Professor Rungano Zvobgo for building a state-of-the-art centre which he said was poised to be a major school of law in Southern Africa.

Mnangagwa paid tribute to Prof Zvobgo for presiding over the rapid transformation and growth of GZU within a space of only two years.

The law school will enroll its inaugural group of 16 students on October 27 and is named after Zimbabwe liberation war icon and former Zanu chairman Herbert Chitepo who was a distinguished lawyer.

Chitepo died in a car bomb explosion in Zambia at the height of the liberation war in 1975.



Source - Herald