Opinion / Columnist
Democracy 101: Mnangagwa style
05 Oct 2020 at 01:44hrs | Views
THIS week, Thokozani Khupe will return to Parliament despite having been overwhelmingly rejected by the people in the 2018 elections.
Khupe threw her hat into the electoral ring and garnered 45 000 votes, while MDC Alliance's Nelson Chamisa got 2 147 436 and Mnangagwa got 2 460 463 votes,
according to the official count.
The MDC Alliance emerged as the main opposition to Zanu-PF with 63 seats to Zanu-PF's 145, while Khupe only managed two proportional representation seats.
Two years down the line, all that has changed and Khupe is now set to become officially the biggest opposition in Zimbabwe, this time without the people's vote involved.
This is clear travesty of justice, throwing democracy out of a moving train and running it over.
When a person with 45 000 votes overrules the 2,1 million people who voted for Chamisa and the MDC Alliance MPs is allowed in Parliament, which is certainly the case as Khupe will be sworn in tomorrow, it just shows democracy in Zimbabwe is dead.
Where are the people in Khupe's corner?
The people certainly did not vote for her or her ilk.
The voice of the people suddenly is not the voice of God, if we are to borrow President Emmerson Mnangagwa's avowal. Or maybe Mnangagwa meant that his voice must be taken as the voice of God?
This is a dangerous route that Zimbabwe is taking and no one has ever taken a machete to democracy like Mnangagwa has done. It is embarrassing, especially in a country that hoped for a rebirth of democracy when Mnangagwa came in following the removal of Robert Mugabe via a November 2017 military coup.
Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga on Friday suspended holding of by-elections to fill in seats for recalled MPs and councillors.
So, the strategy was recall elected officials, shut them out from participating in a democratic exercise and impose the losers against the will of the people?
Why is this being allowed to go unchallenged?
The precedent Zimbabwe is setting is wrong and we are not being good role models in a world that is craving to be a democratic society.
The people did not vote for this, hence it is a coup, whichever way you look at it. The people's voice is being usurped, again. And this will not be the last time either.
Khupe threw her hat into the electoral ring and garnered 45 000 votes, while MDC Alliance's Nelson Chamisa got 2 147 436 and Mnangagwa got 2 460 463 votes,
according to the official count.
The MDC Alliance emerged as the main opposition to Zanu-PF with 63 seats to Zanu-PF's 145, while Khupe only managed two proportional representation seats.
Two years down the line, all that has changed and Khupe is now set to become officially the biggest opposition in Zimbabwe, this time without the people's vote involved.
This is clear travesty of justice, throwing democracy out of a moving train and running it over.
When a person with 45 000 votes overrules the 2,1 million people who voted for Chamisa and the MDC Alliance MPs is allowed in Parliament, which is certainly the case as Khupe will be sworn in tomorrow, it just shows democracy in Zimbabwe is dead.
Where are the people in Khupe's corner?
The people certainly did not vote for her or her ilk.
This is a dangerous route that Zimbabwe is taking and no one has ever taken a machete to democracy like Mnangagwa has done. It is embarrassing, especially in a country that hoped for a rebirth of democracy when Mnangagwa came in following the removal of Robert Mugabe via a November 2017 military coup.
Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga on Friday suspended holding of by-elections to fill in seats for recalled MPs and councillors.
So, the strategy was recall elected officials, shut them out from participating in a democratic exercise and impose the losers against the will of the people?
Why is this being allowed to go unchallenged?
The precedent Zimbabwe is setting is wrong and we are not being good role models in a world that is craving to be a democratic society.
The people did not vote for this, hence it is a coup, whichever way you look at it. The people's voice is being usurped, again. And this will not be the last time either.
Source - newsday
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