'Mnangagwa's legitimacy is derived from the law' - how so, process was 'flawed and illegal'

Every time Lovemore Madhuku opens his mouth; more often than not, he has left one in no doubt that he is not irrational. He has been at it again.

"The legitimacy of the president or government is not derived from you and me, but from the law," he argued.

"The day the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) chairperson announced that he had won the election and declared him as such, his legitimacy was dealt with.

"We are a constitutional democratic country and therefore we abide by whatever decision the law makes."

The constitution and the law are double edged swords that cut both ways it is not enough that we the citizens must abide by the constitution those in positions of power and authority too must abide by the constitution and laws of the land. ZEC was entrusted with the power and responsible to organise and deliver free, fair and credible elections and it failed to do so.

"The right to an effective legal remedy was not adequately provided for, there is no equal suffrage and shortcomings in the registration of voters somewhat compromised universal and equal suffrage," wrote the EU Election Observer Mission in its final report.

"Notably, major shortcomings in the pre-election environment impacted on the free expression of the will of electors, state resources were misused in favour of the incumbent and coverage by state media was heavily biased in favour of the ruling party. Further, the electoral commission lacked full independence and appeared to not always act in an impartial manner.

"The final results as announced by the Electoral Commission contained numerous errors and lacked adequate traceability, transparency and verifiability. Finally, the restrictions on political freedoms, the excessive use of force by security forces and abuses of human rights in the post-election period undermined the corresponding positive aspects during the pre-election campaign.

"As such, many aspects of the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards."

ZEC failed to release something as basic as a verified voters' roll, for Pete's sake. It is a crying shame that Professor Lovemore Madhuku, Nelson Chamisa or one of the other 21 opposition presidential candidates; to say nothing of the thousands in the senatorial, parliamentary and local election races; asked why ZEC had failed to produce a verified voters' roll although this was a constitutional requirement.

All Zimbabwe's opposition candidates have known for years  that without first implementing the democratic reforms designed to restoring the independence of state institutions like ZEC, Zanu PF will blatantly rig the elections.

"Those are not power-sharing talks, but a platform to share and exchange ideas with government," admitted Madhuku.

"As opposition, we are using this to ensure we raise our demands in terms of economic reforms and political reforms in a civilised manner."

So Madhuku is confirming the need for meaningful democratic reforms as a pre-requisite for free, fair and credible elections. The opposition have participated in these flawed and illegal elections out of greed.

 "The worst aspect for me about the failure to agree a coalition was that both MDCs couldn't now do the obvious – withdraw from the (2013) elections," explained David Coltart, a leading opposition leader.

"The electoral process was so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw, which would compel SADC to hold Zanu PF to account. But such was the distrust between the MDC-T and MDC-N that neither could withdraw for fear that the other would remain in the elections, winning seats and giving the process credibility."

"Mnangagwa's legitimacy is derived from the law!" How so, when the electoral process was flawed and illegal!