'Mnangagwa must stop selective application of the law' - Pete's sake, he is a tyrant and that is what tyrants do

Zimbabwe has been a nation of protestors and human rights activists contend to say what is wrong in society but rarely ever come up with what should be done about and rarest of all do it!

"The Zimbabwean Constitution enshrines the principle of separation of powers among three distinct arms of government, which are the executive, consisting of the President and Cabinet, the legislature, which is the Parliament, and the judiciary (Courts)," wrote Mirian Mangwaya in Weekly Digest/Bulawayo24.

"Nevertheless, the independence of the judiciary from the executive has been largely indistinct. The implementation of the principle of separation of powers in Zimbabwe, including guarantees for judiciary independence, is important for the revival of the country's image and economy."

For Pete's sake! Zimbabwe is a Banana Republic, a pariah state, ruled by corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous thugs. Mnangagwa, and before him Mugabe, and his Zanu PF cronies have ridden roughshod over the people denying them their freedoms and rights including the right to a meaningful vote and even the right to life for the last 40 years and counting!

The number one task Mugabe set himself ever since the day Zanu PF got into power following the 1980 election (which the party made sure it would win by making it clear the civil would continue if it lost) was to undermine the multi-party democratic Lancaster constitution to create a de facto one-party dictatorship. The 1983 to 1987 Gukurahundi massacre in which over 20 000 innocent civilians were murdered to pressure Joshua Nkomo and his PF Zapu to join up with Zanu PF; cemented the dictatorship.

After 4 decades of enjoying absolute power, it is no exaggeration to say a very state institution in Zimbabwe has been throughly corrupted and politicised it is a department of the party in all but name; there to serve the party above all else.

Following the 15 November 2017 military coup which booted Robert Mugabe from State House (it was the only way given the party rigged elections); High Court Judge George Chiweshe ruled the coup was "legal, justified and constitutional"!

Of course, that it is utter nonsense; there is no democratic constitution in the world that would make something as blatantly lawless as a coup constitutional. It is equally nonsensical for one to still be wittering after that of an "independent judiciary" ignoring all the mountain of evidence we have captured judiciary.

"The law appears to be favouring government protégés while the executive is using it to suppress dissent and incarcerating 'detractors', in what Alex Magaisa, a law lecturer at Kent University said as a law fare by President Emmerson Mnangagwa's regime," continued Mirian.

"It (Mnangagwa regime) has normalised selective application of the law, aided by the lack of resistance to it," Magaisa posted on his Twitter.

What Mirian should have said is that Alex Magaisa was the Chief Adviser to then Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC-T leader in the 2008 to 2013 Government of National Unit (GNU). The primary task of the MDC in the GNU was to implement the raft of democratic reforms designed to dismantle the Zanu PF's dictatorship, restore the individual freedoms and rights, end the curse of rigged elections and restore democracy and good governance.

MDC failed to implement even one token reform in five years. Not one!

Without any doubt the 2008 GNU offered us the best opportunity ever to end the Zanu PF dictatorship peacefully; it was our get out of jail card. And MDC failed to implement even one token democratic reform in five long years and the opportunity was lost.

So what was the Chief Adviser, Alex Magaisa, doing if it was not to advise MDC to implement the bloody democratic reforms and get the nation out of the hell-hole Zanu PF had dragged us all into! Of course, it is infuriating to be blubbering about Zanu PF using the law selectively, when one knows Zimbabwe is a Banana Republic. And most infuriating of all when those blubbering the loudest are the ones who failed to dismantle the dictatorship when they had golden opportunity to do so.

Indeed, since the MDC leaders' blatant betrayal during the 2008 to 2013 GNU they have completely given up the fight for democratic reforms. They have participated in all elections since 2013 knowing fully well Zanu PF would rig the elections and that doing so would give legitimacy to the vote rigging Zanu PF regime.

Zanu PF has offered a few gravy train seats to entice the opposition to participate in the elections regardless how flawed and illegal the process got. The MDC leaders have found the bait simply irresistible.

"President Mnangagwa should work to restore public confidence in the independence and competence of the Judicial Services Commission (JSC), by openly defending and enforcing the principle of separation of powers," said Dewa Mavhinga, Director for Southern Africa Human Rights Watch.

I have yet to hear Mavhinga and many of the other Human Rights activists criticise and hold the MDC to democratic account for failing to implement even one reform during the GNU. To Mavhinga and many other Zimbabweans out there the 2008 to 2013 GNU and the opportunity it present to end the Zanu PF dictatorship never happened.  

Like it or not, Zimbabwe is a dysfunction Banana Republic ruled by ruling elite comprising the corrupt, incompetent and vote rigging Zanu PF thugs and the equally corrupt, incompetent and utterly useless MDC opportunists. How long are we going to pretend Zimbabwe needs just a fine tuning to make it a working democracy.

After 40 years of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and rank lawlessness it is naive, indeed insane, to expect Zanu PF to reform itself out of power. Wake up Zimbabwe!