News / National
Mugabe feels the heat
10 Aug 2016 at 16:22hrs | Views
As public anger against President Robert Mugabe and his ruling Zanu-PF continues to mount, radical pressure group Tajamuka/Sesijikile has filed a court suit seeking to have the increasingly frail nonagenarian removed from office over his alleged human rights abuses and violations of the country's Constitution.
This comes as renowned political scientist Stephen Chan warned in an interview with the Daily News FROM P1
stunning fall-out with war veterans - as well as ongoing attempts to drown the political career of embattled Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa - could cost Zanu-PF its hold on power going into the eagerly-anticipated 2018 national elections.
In the court case that Mugabe is now facing, Tajamuka spokesperson Promise Mkwananzi has filed a constitutional lawsuit demanding that Zimbabwe's long-ruling leader resigns over his alleged failure to uphold the country's Constitution.
Interestingly, Mkwananzi did not just cite Mugabe as the first respondent in his court action, he also cited the beleaguered Mnangagwa as the second respondent, as the latter also doubles up as Justice minister.
"He (Mugabe) has admitted to committing human rights atrocities on his fellow citizens. Such conduct is not becoming of a leader or a person in the office of the 1st Respondent.
He has no legal or moral basis to continue being entrusted with the duties of a custodian of the Constitution. This is in breach of section 90(1) and 90(2) of the Constitution," part of Mkwananzi's long affidavit reads.
Among a litany of charges, Mugabe stands accused of threatening war veterans with violence after the former freedom fighters recently served divorce papers on the nonagenarian.
Addressing a hastily convened meeting of Zanu-PF supporters at the ruling party's Harare headquarters last month, Mugabe warned the disaffected war veterans that they would be dealt with severely, including through the use of extra-judicial suppression methods that his former liberation movement incorporated during the country's independence war in the 1970s — such as incarcerating dissenters in inhuman dungeons where they were forced to live like caged rats.
This was after the war veterans' executive issued a damning communiqué in which they effectively served divorce papers on the Zanu-PF leader whom they said was "a hard sell" for the 2018 elections.
In his affidavit, Mkwananzi also vowed to provide video evidence in court to prove that Mugabe had threatened citizens when they recently protested against his misrule, in complete disregard of the Constitution.
"The utterances show that he or his party controls the police and they are his and he will use them as the agent to affect such systematic torture on citizens. Ordinarily, the defence forces are supposed to be non-partisan but he is now using them or threatening to use them on partisan grounds to torture citizens.
"In his speeches, he actually uses them as a guarantee to his control over other citizens and he insinuates that they (the police) will enforce the party's agenda. He is abusing his office as commander in chief of the defence forces to subvert the Constitution," he argued further.
Mkwananzi also said owing to the many violations, citizens no longer felt that they had the right to air their views on political matters because to Mugabe, "a different opinion is nonsense which he will not tolerate".
"This is in breach of his duty to 'respect the diversity of the people and communities of Zimbabwe' in terms of section 90 (2) (d). The 1st Respondent has no right to ban demonstrations in Zimbabwe as long as they are conducted in terms of the Constitution.
"He cannot threaten citizens who defect from him or his political party with punishment 'in bunkers' 'likes rats'. He has gone to the extent of treating citizens as enemies if they don't agree with him," he argued.
Mkwananzi also said while it was Mugabe's duty to promote national unity and reconciliation, as well as maintain order, peace, stability and devotion to the well-being of the country and all its people, "the same protector is now the chief threat to these ideals".
"If his conduct is not checked and regulated, this nation, its hopes, aspirations and its people would be steered into a sea of hatred, war and instability.
"It is only this honourable court that can put an end to this hate speech and factionalism by declaring such conduct to be unconstitutional and contrary to the 1st respondent's core duties as provided in section 90 of the Constitution. Unabated, this hate speech and threats can degenerate into chaos and potential genocide," Mkwananzi prayed.
"It is my respectful contention that the president cannot threaten citizens and expect them to cower to his demands without such conduct being brought to book. We did not vote a dictator into power, but I fear that circumstances and our silence might end up creating one," he added.
Meanwhile, world politics expert Stephen Chan has warned that Zanu-PF could lose its liberation fear factor going into the keenly-awaited 2018 national elections.
Chan spoke as war veterans boycotted joining Mugabe at the Heroes Acre on Monday, as Zimbabwe remembered those who died and sacrificed their lives during the country's protracted liberation struggle.
"To lose the veterans is a disaster for Mugabe," Chan told the Daily News in an exclusive interview, adding: "They fought, they sacrificed. Who else carries the mantle of the men and women who suffered in the field against huge odds?
"I saw the Rhodesian war machine. It took huge courage to go up against that. Losing the veterans will mean, as I said, Zanu-PF is no longer the party of liberation".
War veterans have been one of Mugabe's and Zanu-PF's strongest pillars of support over the past five decades, playing particularly significant roles to keep the nonagenarian in power in the hotly-disputed 2000 and 2008 elections which were both marred by serious violence and the murder of hundreds of opposition supporters.
"Yes, these ructions will destroy Zanu-PF as the party of liberation. The war veterans have lost faith in Mugabe. Joice Mujuru, a genuine war heroine, has been purged. Emmerson Mnangagwa, a hero of the struggle, has been under sustained attack.
"Those who will be left will have played no part in (the) armed struggle. If that is the case, those who succeed Mugabe will need a successful policy programme, but all we see is a struggle for succession and no policy programme.
"If Mnangagwa also falls, then the Zanu-PF of the 2018 elections will not be the same party of the 1980 independence elections," Chan observed.
Zanu-PF is riven by serious infighting pitting two factions — Team Lacoste that is rallying behind Mnangagwa and the Generation 40 group which is opposed to the embattled VP succeeding Mugabe.
Team Lacoste says Mnangagwa is the right candidate to succeed Mugabe should the veteran leader fail to complete his term or step down, while the party's young Turks, the G40, want the nonagenarian to remain at the helm at whatever cost.
The war veterans also favour Mnangagwa to take over and have warned that there could be bloodshed if the man nicknamed Ngwena (crocodile) does not succeed Mugabe.
However, the Midlands godfather has distanced himself from both the war veterans and Team Lacoste, although political analysts say this is merely a tactical move to manage his relationship with Mugabe.
Chan said Mugabe should have paved way for new blood a long time ago, and that his continued reign and old age were militating against the country's development.
"There is no major leader anywhere else in the world who is Mugabe's age. In China, which also venerates age, you cannot become a member of the politburo or become president if you are over 60," Chan told the Daily News.
This comes as renowned political scientist Stephen Chan warned in an interview with the Daily News FROM P1
stunning fall-out with war veterans - as well as ongoing attempts to drown the political career of embattled Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa - could cost Zanu-PF its hold on power going into the eagerly-anticipated 2018 national elections.
In the court case that Mugabe is now facing, Tajamuka spokesperson Promise Mkwananzi has filed a constitutional lawsuit demanding that Zimbabwe's long-ruling leader resigns over his alleged failure to uphold the country's Constitution.
Interestingly, Mkwananzi did not just cite Mugabe as the first respondent in his court action, he also cited the beleaguered Mnangagwa as the second respondent, as the latter also doubles up as Justice minister.
"He (Mugabe) has admitted to committing human rights atrocities on his fellow citizens. Such conduct is not becoming of a leader or a person in the office of the 1st Respondent.
He has no legal or moral basis to continue being entrusted with the duties of a custodian of the Constitution. This is in breach of section 90(1) and 90(2) of the Constitution," part of Mkwananzi's long affidavit reads.
Among a litany of charges, Mugabe stands accused of threatening war veterans with violence after the former freedom fighters recently served divorce papers on the nonagenarian.
Addressing a hastily convened meeting of Zanu-PF supporters at the ruling party's Harare headquarters last month, Mugabe warned the disaffected war veterans that they would be dealt with severely, including through the use of extra-judicial suppression methods that his former liberation movement incorporated during the country's independence war in the 1970s — such as incarcerating dissenters in inhuman dungeons where they were forced to live like caged rats.
This was after the war veterans' executive issued a damning communiqué in which they effectively served divorce papers on the Zanu-PF leader whom they said was "a hard sell" for the 2018 elections.
In his affidavit, Mkwananzi also vowed to provide video evidence in court to prove that Mugabe had threatened citizens when they recently protested against his misrule, in complete disregard of the Constitution.
"The utterances show that he or his party controls the police and they are his and he will use them as the agent to affect such systematic torture on citizens. Ordinarily, the defence forces are supposed to be non-partisan but he is now using them or threatening to use them on partisan grounds to torture citizens.
"In his speeches, he actually uses them as a guarantee to his control over other citizens and he insinuates that they (the police) will enforce the party's agenda. He is abusing his office as commander in chief of the defence forces to subvert the Constitution," he argued further.
Mkwananzi also said owing to the many violations, citizens no longer felt that they had the right to air their views on political matters because to Mugabe, "a different opinion is nonsense which he will not tolerate".
"This is in breach of his duty to 'respect the diversity of the people and communities of Zimbabwe' in terms of section 90 (2) (d). The 1st Respondent has no right to ban demonstrations in Zimbabwe as long as they are conducted in terms of the Constitution.
"He cannot threaten citizens who defect from him or his political party with punishment 'in bunkers' 'likes rats'. He has gone to the extent of treating citizens as enemies if they don't agree with him," he argued.
Mkwananzi also said while it was Mugabe's duty to promote national unity and reconciliation, as well as maintain order, peace, stability and devotion to the well-being of the country and all its people, "the same protector is now the chief threat to these ideals".
"It is only this honourable court that can put an end to this hate speech and factionalism by declaring such conduct to be unconstitutional and contrary to the 1st respondent's core duties as provided in section 90 of the Constitution. Unabated, this hate speech and threats can degenerate into chaos and potential genocide," Mkwananzi prayed.
"It is my respectful contention that the president cannot threaten citizens and expect them to cower to his demands without such conduct being brought to book. We did not vote a dictator into power, but I fear that circumstances and our silence might end up creating one," he added.
Meanwhile, world politics expert Stephen Chan has warned that Zanu-PF could lose its liberation fear factor going into the keenly-awaited 2018 national elections.
Chan spoke as war veterans boycotted joining Mugabe at the Heroes Acre on Monday, as Zimbabwe remembered those who died and sacrificed their lives during the country's protracted liberation struggle.
"To lose the veterans is a disaster for Mugabe," Chan told the Daily News in an exclusive interview, adding: "They fought, they sacrificed. Who else carries the mantle of the men and women who suffered in the field against huge odds?
"I saw the Rhodesian war machine. It took huge courage to go up against that. Losing the veterans will mean, as I said, Zanu-PF is no longer the party of liberation".
War veterans have been one of Mugabe's and Zanu-PF's strongest pillars of support over the past five decades, playing particularly significant roles to keep the nonagenarian in power in the hotly-disputed 2000 and 2008 elections which were both marred by serious violence and the murder of hundreds of opposition supporters.
"Yes, these ructions will destroy Zanu-PF as the party of liberation. The war veterans have lost faith in Mugabe. Joice Mujuru, a genuine war heroine, has been purged. Emmerson Mnangagwa, a hero of the struggle, has been under sustained attack.
"Those who will be left will have played no part in (the) armed struggle. If that is the case, those who succeed Mugabe will need a successful policy programme, but all we see is a struggle for succession and no policy programme.
"If Mnangagwa also falls, then the Zanu-PF of the 2018 elections will not be the same party of the 1980 independence elections," Chan observed.
Zanu-PF is riven by serious infighting pitting two factions — Team Lacoste that is rallying behind Mnangagwa and the Generation 40 group which is opposed to the embattled VP succeeding Mugabe.
Team Lacoste says Mnangagwa is the right candidate to succeed Mugabe should the veteran leader fail to complete his term or step down, while the party's young Turks, the G40, want the nonagenarian to remain at the helm at whatever cost.
The war veterans also favour Mnangagwa to take over and have warned that there could be bloodshed if the man nicknamed Ngwena (crocodile) does not succeed Mugabe.
However, the Midlands godfather has distanced himself from both the war veterans and Team Lacoste, although political analysts say this is merely a tactical move to manage his relationship with Mugabe.
Chan said Mugabe should have paved way for new blood a long time ago, and that his continued reign and old age were militating against the country's development.
"There is no major leader anywhere else in the world who is Mugabe's age. In China, which also venerates age, you cannot become a member of the politburo or become president if you are over 60," Chan told the Daily News.
Source - dailynews
