News / National
'Let's not waste time on imbeciles'
02 Feb 2015 at 12:59hrs | Views
A CONSTITUTIONAL democracy like Zimbabwe should not waste time using the law to discipline imbeciles in politics and the media as society always moves on leaving them behind, Government, legal and political analysts have said.
The comments follow Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku's censure of the NPA for flooding the courts with cases of people accused of insulting or undermining the President, saying some of the name-calling could only be believed by imbeciles.
Justice Chidyausiku made the sentiments last Wednesday in apparent reference to MDC-T secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora's prosecution for calling President Mugabe a "goblin" during a rally held in Nyanga in 2009.
"Politicians call each other names such as 'weevils' and 'gamatox', are you suggesting that you prosecute people for that?" Justice Chidyausiku asked the Prosecutor-General's representative, Mr Admore Nyazamba.
"If somebody calls the President a weevil or gamatox, are you going to prosecute that person? It is part of the trade of politics. Why are you bringing such matters to the Constitutional Court? The President is not a goblin and we all know that Why should the law bother itself about it? You have to be an imbecile to believe that the President is a goblin," Chief Justice Chidyausiku said.
Government, lawyers, media and political analysts concurred. Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo said such name-callers can only succeed in populating the lunatic fringe of society.
"While we should of course respect the ongoing legal process by awaiting the Court's decision in the instant matter, it is as notable as it is worrying that the judicial sentiments expressed by the Chief Justice during the hearing of Mwonzora's case in open court last week, are very true of the typical imbecile and idiotic disposition of opposition parties towards virtually everything that has to do with President Mugabe, Zanu-PF and the Government.
"While we should of course respect the ongoing legal process by awaiting the Court's decision in the instant matter, it is as notable as it is worrying that the judicial sentiments expressed by the Chief Justice during the hearing of Mwonzora's case in open court last week, are very true of the typically imbecilic and idiotic disposition of opposition parties towards virtually everything that has to do with President Mugabe, ZANU-PF and the Government.
"The same goes for the similarly imbecilic and idiotic claims that some sections of the media routinely make as an expression of what has become their template of covering anything that has to do with President Mugabe, ZANU-PF and the Government. There's no reason why a constitutional democracy such as ours should use the law to discipline imbeciles and idiots in politics and the media.
"Society always moves on, leaving imbeciles and idiots behind and there's a lot of evidence of this in Zimbabwe's politics and media. Imbecilic and idiotic behaviour necessarily, and by itself leads to irrelevance in society not least because imbeciles and idiots can only succeed in making up the lunatic fringe," Prof Moyo said.
The opposition MDC-T and its media embeds, analysts said, have a penchant for masking their paucity of ideas by resorting to name-calling the President with all manner of epithets which, however, are always at variance with his stature in the eyes of Zimbabweans, the region and the continent that have been electing him to leadership positions over the years.
For instance since President Mugabe's resounding re-election in the 2013 harmonised elections, his political stock has been on the rise regionally and continentally as he went on to be elected Sadc deputy chair in August 2013, Sadc chair and AU first vice chairman in 2014 and now AU chairman in 2015, all despite spirited, infantile name-calling by the opposition and their media embeds.
Lawyers rapped the NPA for sitting on cases of national importance while bringing trivial issues like the Mwonzora case before the courts.
They said there were many important cases of national interest which the NPA was aware of but not pursuing, concentrating instead on clogging the courts with non-issues from the lunatic fringe of society.
Harare lawyer Mr Terrence Hussein said while the law criminalising insulting the President was made to give seriousness and respect to his office, its application in some instances was in effect bringing the office into disrepute.
"Just speaking on the subject of that particular crime, the offence was created to give seriousness and respect to the Head of State (and Government), but sometimes the way people are being charged is in itself trivialising the office of the President," he said.
"The NPA should prosecute only the most serious cases and not some of these little things that are said in beerhalls and some such other places. For example, if someone says something in a bar, no one else will know except the people in that bar, so when you go on to prosecute that person you are giving the case prominence and seriousness it did not have in the first place," he said.
Another lawyer, Mr Chris Mhike, also agreed with Chief Justice Chidyausiku, saying the Constitution protected the citizens' rights to freedom of expression.
"Going by the provisions of our Constitution, the Chief Justice's reasoning is completely sound, and commendably progressive," he said
"Section 61 of the Constitution protects the citizen's fundamental right of freedom of expression, and modern jurisprudence (philosophy of law) dictates that the less we limit that freedom, the better.
"No doubt, given the importance and significance of the President, his office and person must be respected. But it must be understood that the President wears two hats. He is not only the Chief Executive Officer of the Republic; he is also an active politician who continuously contests for power with the opposition," he said.
Mr Mhike said civil law was better placed in dealing with issues that undermined people's reputations or dignity instead of criminal law.
Midlands State University media studies lecturer Dr Nhamo Mhiripiri said while it was important to protect the office of the President, rationality was needed in prosecuting some of the cases.
"We need to have proportionate censure that also takes into account freedom of speech and expression because we have some insults that become more pronounced once you prosecute them because of the publicity they will receive and also because the legal process sometimes takes a long time," he said.
"So, unless there is a case that seriously threatens national security and national interest, it remains a question of us finding proportionate censure that may ensure that we don't waste time and resources using the legal route that may take a long time."
Dr Mhiripiri said that what was important was to build a mature political culture and a value system that reduced personal insults.
University of Zimbabwe political scientist Dr Charity Manyeruke said it was important to protect the integrity of the presidency, adding that outlawing insults against the President was needed.
"This is not the first case that the courts have dealt with and in some cases people have been cautioned or fined, so I think the judiciary still has a role to play in protecting the integrity of the President and be guided by the provisions of the law," she said.
"It is also important to note that the laws of the country don't operate in a vacuum, but in a society which has principles and respect for authority and political leadership, including the President."
The Constitutional Court reserved judgment in the case involving Mr Mwonzora, but dropped two other cases against people accused of insulting or undermining the authority of the President.
The comments follow Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku's censure of the NPA for flooding the courts with cases of people accused of insulting or undermining the President, saying some of the name-calling could only be believed by imbeciles.
Justice Chidyausiku made the sentiments last Wednesday in apparent reference to MDC-T secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora's prosecution for calling President Mugabe a "goblin" during a rally held in Nyanga in 2009.
"Politicians call each other names such as 'weevils' and 'gamatox', are you suggesting that you prosecute people for that?" Justice Chidyausiku asked the Prosecutor-General's representative, Mr Admore Nyazamba.
"If somebody calls the President a weevil or gamatox, are you going to prosecute that person? It is part of the trade of politics. Why are you bringing such matters to the Constitutional Court? The President is not a goblin and we all know that Why should the law bother itself about it? You have to be an imbecile to believe that the President is a goblin," Chief Justice Chidyausiku said.
Government, lawyers, media and political analysts concurred. Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo said such name-callers can only succeed in populating the lunatic fringe of society.
"While we should of course respect the ongoing legal process by awaiting the Court's decision in the instant matter, it is as notable as it is worrying that the judicial sentiments expressed by the Chief Justice during the hearing of Mwonzora's case in open court last week, are very true of the typical imbecile and idiotic disposition of opposition parties towards virtually everything that has to do with President Mugabe, Zanu-PF and the Government.
"While we should of course respect the ongoing legal process by awaiting the Court's decision in the instant matter, it is as notable as it is worrying that the judicial sentiments expressed by the Chief Justice during the hearing of Mwonzora's case in open court last week, are very true of the typically imbecilic and idiotic disposition of opposition parties towards virtually everything that has to do with President Mugabe, ZANU-PF and the Government.
"The same goes for the similarly imbecilic and idiotic claims that some sections of the media routinely make as an expression of what has become their template of covering anything that has to do with President Mugabe, ZANU-PF and the Government. There's no reason why a constitutional democracy such as ours should use the law to discipline imbeciles and idiots in politics and the media.
"Society always moves on, leaving imbeciles and idiots behind and there's a lot of evidence of this in Zimbabwe's politics and media. Imbecilic and idiotic behaviour necessarily, and by itself leads to irrelevance in society not least because imbeciles and idiots can only succeed in making up the lunatic fringe," Prof Moyo said.
The opposition MDC-T and its media embeds, analysts said, have a penchant for masking their paucity of ideas by resorting to name-calling the President with all manner of epithets which, however, are always at variance with his stature in the eyes of Zimbabweans, the region and the continent that have been electing him to leadership positions over the years.
For instance since President Mugabe's resounding re-election in the 2013 harmonised elections, his political stock has been on the rise regionally and continentally as he went on to be elected Sadc deputy chair in August 2013, Sadc chair and AU first vice chairman in 2014 and now AU chairman in 2015, all despite spirited, infantile name-calling by the opposition and their media embeds.
Lawyers rapped the NPA for sitting on cases of national importance while bringing trivial issues like the Mwonzora case before the courts.
They said there were many important cases of national interest which the NPA was aware of but not pursuing, concentrating instead on clogging the courts with non-issues from the lunatic fringe of society.
Harare lawyer Mr Terrence Hussein said while the law criminalising insulting the President was made to give seriousness and respect to his office, its application in some instances was in effect bringing the office into disrepute.
"The NPA should prosecute only the most serious cases and not some of these little things that are said in beerhalls and some such other places. For example, if someone says something in a bar, no one else will know except the people in that bar, so when you go on to prosecute that person you are giving the case prominence and seriousness it did not have in the first place," he said.
Another lawyer, Mr Chris Mhike, also agreed with Chief Justice Chidyausiku, saying the Constitution protected the citizens' rights to freedom of expression.
"Going by the provisions of our Constitution, the Chief Justice's reasoning is completely sound, and commendably progressive," he said
"Section 61 of the Constitution protects the citizen's fundamental right of freedom of expression, and modern jurisprudence (philosophy of law) dictates that the less we limit that freedom, the better.
"No doubt, given the importance and significance of the President, his office and person must be respected. But it must be understood that the President wears two hats. He is not only the Chief Executive Officer of the Republic; he is also an active politician who continuously contests for power with the opposition," he said.
Mr Mhike said civil law was better placed in dealing with issues that undermined people's reputations or dignity instead of criminal law.
Midlands State University media studies lecturer Dr Nhamo Mhiripiri said while it was important to protect the office of the President, rationality was needed in prosecuting some of the cases.
"We need to have proportionate censure that also takes into account freedom of speech and expression because we have some insults that become more pronounced once you prosecute them because of the publicity they will receive and also because the legal process sometimes takes a long time," he said.
"So, unless there is a case that seriously threatens national security and national interest, it remains a question of us finding proportionate censure that may ensure that we don't waste time and resources using the legal route that may take a long time."
Dr Mhiripiri said that what was important was to build a mature political culture and a value system that reduced personal insults.
University of Zimbabwe political scientist Dr Charity Manyeruke said it was important to protect the integrity of the presidency, adding that outlawing insults against the President was needed.
"This is not the first case that the courts have dealt with and in some cases people have been cautioned or fined, so I think the judiciary still has a role to play in protecting the integrity of the President and be guided by the provisions of the law," she said.
"It is also important to note that the laws of the country don't operate in a vacuum, but in a society which has principles and respect for authority and political leadership, including the President."
The Constitutional Court reserved judgment in the case involving Mr Mwonzora, but dropped two other cases against people accused of insulting or undermining the authority of the President.
Source - The Herald
