Opinion / Columnist
Norway ask Zanu PF to align laws to Copac constitution but 'first and foremost' implement reform!
08 Mar 2015 at 08:11hrs | Views
Norway calls on the Zanu PF government to align the existing laws to the new Copac constitution.
Speaking at the official launch of a book which recognizes women rights activists in Harare Friday, Royal Norwegian embassy counsellor Ms Inger Tveit said delays in the re-alignment of the laws with the new constitution were promoting human rights violations.
"We are in a situation where we have a very wonderful constitution in this country, and we have celebrated that in many ways.
"But there is a problem that we all know. There are laws to align and there are strategies to develop and first and foremost there are some implementations and practices to change," she said.
What has to be recognised here is that we are dealing with a regime that is reluctant to carry out the alignment much less to implement democratic reforms because the present repressive set up fits its tyrannical agenda to hold on to political power at all cost. It is us calling for democratic change who need to carry out some strategic thinking of own first.
Are we saying that the new Copac constitution would guarantee all human rights if all the country's existing laws were harmonized to the Copac constitution? The answer to that is a resounding No! This Copac constitution has already failed to deliver free, fair and credible elections, the July 2013 election - its ultimate acid test - because it is a weak and feeble constitution. No amount of tweaking or alignment with this weak and feeble constitution will delivery free and fair elections and that is why Counsellor Ms Inger Tveit has rightly called for the implementation of reforms "first and foremost".
Once all the reforms have been implemented there will have to be fresh free and fair elections. It is only a new government with a democratic mandate that can be trusted to first of all review the Copac constitution to incorporate the implemented democratic reforms into the constitution to iron out the present weaknesses. Second, align all the existing laws to the revised constitution.
This Zanu PF government is happy to maintain the status quo of a weak and feeble constitution and not even one democratic reform implemented. But if push comes to shove the regime will go for the easier option of aligning the existing laws to the weak and feeble constitution and then dig in to resist the implementation of any reform. We have already agreed that the implementation of the democratic reform comes "first and foremost" then our demands to Mugabe and Zanu PF should simple be to implement all the reforms, period.
"Yatsika musheche yamwa!" so goes the Shona adage. (If the cow has sand on its hoof, it will be presumed that it had a drink!) But this will not stop a cynical individual taking the poor cow to a dried up river bed; it will have the sand on its hoofs but never quenched its thirst.
Mugabe is one of the most cynical, dishonest and ruthless politicians in the world; he has denied the Zimbabwean people they basic and fundamental freedoms and rights including the right to a meaning vote and the right to life itself by using all kinds of trickery. Demand the implementation of the reforms and free and fair elections and the whole process will be taken out of his hands and he will have no opportunity for mischief.
Get the water trough in the paddock filled so the cow can drink as and when she please and there will be no need to check if there is sand on her hoof to know if she is thirsty or not!
Speaking at the official launch of a book which recognizes women rights activists in Harare Friday, Royal Norwegian embassy counsellor Ms Inger Tveit said delays in the re-alignment of the laws with the new constitution were promoting human rights violations.
"We are in a situation where we have a very wonderful constitution in this country, and we have celebrated that in many ways.
"But there is a problem that we all know. There are laws to align and there are strategies to develop and first and foremost there are some implementations and practices to change," she said.
What has to be recognised here is that we are dealing with a regime that is reluctant to carry out the alignment much less to implement democratic reforms because the present repressive set up fits its tyrannical agenda to hold on to political power at all cost. It is us calling for democratic change who need to carry out some strategic thinking of own first.
Are we saying that the new Copac constitution would guarantee all human rights if all the country's existing laws were harmonized to the Copac constitution? The answer to that is a resounding No! This Copac constitution has already failed to deliver free, fair and credible elections, the July 2013 election - its ultimate acid test - because it is a weak and feeble constitution. No amount of tweaking or alignment with this weak and feeble constitution will delivery free and fair elections and that is why Counsellor Ms Inger Tveit has rightly called for the implementation of reforms "first and foremost".
Once all the reforms have been implemented there will have to be fresh free and fair elections. It is only a new government with a democratic mandate that can be trusted to first of all review the Copac constitution to incorporate the implemented democratic reforms into the constitution to iron out the present weaknesses. Second, align all the existing laws to the revised constitution.
This Zanu PF government is happy to maintain the status quo of a weak and feeble constitution and not even one democratic reform implemented. But if push comes to shove the regime will go for the easier option of aligning the existing laws to the weak and feeble constitution and then dig in to resist the implementation of any reform. We have already agreed that the implementation of the democratic reform comes "first and foremost" then our demands to Mugabe and Zanu PF should simple be to implement all the reforms, period.
"Yatsika musheche yamwa!" so goes the Shona adage. (If the cow has sand on its hoof, it will be presumed that it had a drink!) But this will not stop a cynical individual taking the poor cow to a dried up river bed; it will have the sand on its hoofs but never quenched its thirst.
Mugabe is one of the most cynical, dishonest and ruthless politicians in the world; he has denied the Zimbabwean people they basic and fundamental freedoms and rights including the right to a meaning vote and the right to life itself by using all kinds of trickery. Demand the implementation of the reforms and free and fair elections and the whole process will be taken out of his hands and he will have no opportunity for mischief.
Get the water trough in the paddock filled so the cow can drink as and when she please and there will be no need to check if there is sand on her hoof to know if she is thirsty or not!
Source - Wilbert Mukori
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