Opinion / Columnist
'ConCourt can declare Chamisa president,' says Veritas - but to what end and purpose
09 Aug 2018 at 14:47hrs | Views
Some people like to waste time chasing shadows and fairy tale stories just to escape dealing with reality.
Veritas, in its latest election watch bulletin, said MDC Alliance leader, Nelson Chamisa and any other aggrieved candidates had up to tomorrow at close of business to lodge their petitions to challenge the electoral outcome in terms of section 93 of the Constitution. "The ConCourt's decision on a presidential election challenge can take any form in terms of section 93 (4) of the Constitution like to declare a winner, which means it can confirm the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec)'s declaration or declare another candidate the winner," the legal think-tank said. "It can invalidate the election, in which case a fresh election must be held within 60 days and note that this probably means a new election rather than a run-off or it can make any other order it considers just and appropriate."
Nelson Chamisa's legal challenge of the presidential result is a waste of time for three basic reasons:
1) These elections were rigged alright. How can these elections be free, fair and credible when there was no free public media; millions of diaspora voters were denied the vote; no clean and verified voters' roll was ever produced; Zanu PF was allowed to rob the nation blind to bankroll its vote-rigging schemes; etc.; etc.? Chamisa's legal challenge focuses on what happened in the counting of the votes, the production of the V11 forms and the addition of the figures there on. By then, the bulk of the vote rigging was already done and dusted.
Whatever vote-rigging Chamisa and his team can glean from the V11 will constitute 5%, at most, of the vote rigging in these elections. To win the case on the basis of just 5% is rich!
2) Eight months ago the same Court ruled that treasonous act of staging a military coup was "legal" in Zimbabwe. It will be the height of sheer hypocrisy is the same Court should now suddenly have a legal conscience stopping it declaring a relatively minor offence of rigging elections "legal". It must be remember here that the same individuals who stage the coup are also behind the rigging of the elections and have been doing it for the last 38 years!
3) Can anyone even imagine President Nelson Chamisa presiding over a regime with a more than two third Zanu PF parliamentary majority?
Margaret Dongo, former Zanu PF MP, once described Zanu PF MPs and cabinet ministers as "vakadzi vaMugabe!" (Mugabe's subservient concubines!) She was expressing her anger and frustration at how Mugabe rod roughshod over his fellow Zanu PF leaders and not even one of them had the guts to stand up to the bullying and control freak thug.
If Chamisa was declared president Zanu PF MPs will be enraged; they toothless dogs will become rabbis infested mad dogs whose only purpose in life would be to prove that MDC cannot accomplish even one thing before they impeach and lynch the enfeebled Chamisa at the earliest opportunity.
These elections should have never gone ahead without first implementing the democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging these elections. The elections have gone ahead only because MDC and the other opportunists in the opposition camp would not listen.
Zanu PF has learned that as long as it allows the opposition to win some of the gravy train seats, the regime will never have to worry about the opposition boycotting elections regardless how flawed and illegal the process got. The opposition have abandoned the common cause of fighting for free, fair and credible elections in pursuit of the scraps Zanu PF is throwing away as bait!
Chamisa's Court challenge will accomplish nothing of substance as it will address the vote counting problem only, the visible ears, and say nothing about all the other serious vote-rigging, the rest of hippopotamus bulk hidden under the muddy waters.
If we are serious about Zimbabwe holding free, fair and credible elections then we must demand that the illegitimate regime emerging from these flawed elections must step aside to allow the appointment of an interim regime tasked to implement the democratic reforms. We should be expending all our time and effort on getting these elections declared null and void and wasting it on messaging Chamisa's misplaced egotistic ambitions.
Veritas, in its latest election watch bulletin, said MDC Alliance leader, Nelson Chamisa and any other aggrieved candidates had up to tomorrow at close of business to lodge their petitions to challenge the electoral outcome in terms of section 93 of the Constitution. "The ConCourt's decision on a presidential election challenge can take any form in terms of section 93 (4) of the Constitution like to declare a winner, which means it can confirm the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec)'s declaration or declare another candidate the winner," the legal think-tank said. "It can invalidate the election, in which case a fresh election must be held within 60 days and note that this probably means a new election rather than a run-off or it can make any other order it considers just and appropriate."
Nelson Chamisa's legal challenge of the presidential result is a waste of time for three basic reasons:
1) These elections were rigged alright. How can these elections be free, fair and credible when there was no free public media; millions of diaspora voters were denied the vote; no clean and verified voters' roll was ever produced; Zanu PF was allowed to rob the nation blind to bankroll its vote-rigging schemes; etc.; etc.? Chamisa's legal challenge focuses on what happened in the counting of the votes, the production of the V11 forms and the addition of the figures there on. By then, the bulk of the vote rigging was already done and dusted.
Whatever vote-rigging Chamisa and his team can glean from the V11 will constitute 5%, at most, of the vote rigging in these elections. To win the case on the basis of just 5% is rich!
2) Eight months ago the same Court ruled that treasonous act of staging a military coup was "legal" in Zimbabwe. It will be the height of sheer hypocrisy is the same Court should now suddenly have a legal conscience stopping it declaring a relatively minor offence of rigging elections "legal". It must be remember here that the same individuals who stage the coup are also behind the rigging of the elections and have been doing it for the last 38 years!
3) Can anyone even imagine President Nelson Chamisa presiding over a regime with a more than two third Zanu PF parliamentary majority?
Margaret Dongo, former Zanu PF MP, once described Zanu PF MPs and cabinet ministers as "vakadzi vaMugabe!" (Mugabe's subservient concubines!) She was expressing her anger and frustration at how Mugabe rod roughshod over his fellow Zanu PF leaders and not even one of them had the guts to stand up to the bullying and control freak thug.
If Chamisa was declared president Zanu PF MPs will be enraged; they toothless dogs will become rabbis infested mad dogs whose only purpose in life would be to prove that MDC cannot accomplish even one thing before they impeach and lynch the enfeebled Chamisa at the earliest opportunity.
These elections should have never gone ahead without first implementing the democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging these elections. The elections have gone ahead only because MDC and the other opportunists in the opposition camp would not listen.
Zanu PF has learned that as long as it allows the opposition to win some of the gravy train seats, the regime will never have to worry about the opposition boycotting elections regardless how flawed and illegal the process got. The opposition have abandoned the common cause of fighting for free, fair and credible elections in pursuit of the scraps Zanu PF is throwing away as bait!
Chamisa's Court challenge will accomplish nothing of substance as it will address the vote counting problem only, the visible ears, and say nothing about all the other serious vote-rigging, the rest of hippopotamus bulk hidden under the muddy waters.
If we are serious about Zimbabwe holding free, fair and credible elections then we must demand that the illegitimate regime emerging from these flawed elections must step aside to allow the appointment of an interim regime tasked to implement the democratic reforms. We should be expending all our time and effort on getting these elections declared null and void and wasting it on messaging Chamisa's misplaced egotistic ambitions.
Source - Jonathan Matika
All articles and letters published on Bulawayo24 have been independently written by members of Bulawayo24's community. The views of users published on Bulawayo24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Bulawayo24. Bulawayo24 editors also reserve the right to edit or delete any and all comments received.
