Welshman Ncube fights Mudenda

MDC leader Welshman Ncube has approached the Speaker of the House of Assembly Lovemore Moyo challenging the appointments of Zanu-PF politician Jacob Mudenda and Supreme Court Judge Justice Rita Makarau to key posts.

His challenge to Mudenda's appointment as chairperson of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) and that of Makarau as the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) chair respectively, came after President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai last month selected the two in Ncube's absence, whose political party is part of the inclusive government.

Mudenda, a Zanu PF politburo member, was Matabeleland North governor during the Gukurahundi era, while Makarau, a former non-constituency MP is a Supreme Court judge currently acting secretary of the Judicial Service Commission.

Gukurahundi reportedly claimed over 20 000 people in Matabeleland and Midlands provinces in the 1980s.

Moyo yesterday confirmed that he had received a letter from Ncube on Monday challenging the appointment of the two top officials.

"I can confirm that on March 4, Ncube wrote to me challenging the appointments of Mudenda as ZHRC chairperson and Justice Makarau as Zec chairperson and he was very clear in the letter that he wanted the Standing Rules and Orders Committee (SROC) to sit and debate on the suitability or non-suitability of the two," Moyo said.

"In this case, President Mugabe followed the correct procedure where he asked Parliament to concur or not to concur with the names of the nominees ' Mudenda as ZHRC chairperson and Makarau as Zec chairperson as the constitution stipulates that it should be done in concurrence with the judges and Parliament."

Moyo said as chairman of the SROC, he then circulated communication to all members explaining the circumstances after the Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs informed them about the decisions of the principals to appoint the two.

"We circulated the communication to all SROC members to get them to say whether they concur or not. This is the exercise we have been doing since last week and as a result, some members concurred while others did not concur. The issue of how many concurred and those who did not is still a confidential one until we go through the process as it is still ongoing," Moyo said.

He said the procedure was that if any member of the SROC was unhappy with the nomination of any candidate to a commission, they could indicate it in writing.

"It is also their right to ask the Speaker of the House of Assembly to convene the SROC to sit and discuss the issue. Ncube was very clear in his letter that he wanted to express his dissatisfaction pertaining to the suitability of the candidates in the presence of other SROC members," Moyo said.

He, however, said it might prove difficult for the SROC to sit soon as there were a lot of activities like the referendum going on and most members were scattered all over the country.

"We will give time to assess the situation and we are still waiting for the responses of other SROC members on the issue and once I get responses from all of them, it will give me a picture of whether we need an emergency meeting or not," he said.