The Movement for Democratic Change led by Morgan Tsvangirai has slammed Information Minister Jonathan Moyo for trying to mislead the nation that President Robert Mugabe was within his rights to intimidate the judiciary not to handle the case of Didymus Mutasa and Rugare Gumbo who have taken the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front to court over the December party congress.
Mugabe was reported to have told an audience that party affairs were not for the courts to decide and he would question the qualifications of any judicial officer who heard the case. Mugabe’s comments were widely publicized as an assault on the judiciary.
Moyo said in statement that: “It is wrong and unacceptable that some lawyers who are known to belong to some beleaguered opposition political parties, such as Alex Magaisa and Lovemore Madhuku, have sought to abuse their legal robes to misinform the public about the legal import of President Mugabe’s statement last Friday, that he could not see how any court of law could entertain the recent court application by Didymus Mutasa and Rugare Gumbo against ZANU-PF, in which the President is cited as a Second Respondent.
“President Mugabe said it would be a case of interference in ZANU-PF internal matters that are not legal but are ideological and political should the courts entertain Mutasa’s matter.
“It is thus shocking that some lawyers who should know better have sought to misrepresent the President’s remarks as a threat to the rule of law. This is particularly true of outrageous claims that President Mugabe is allegedly prejudicing and pre-empting the case brought by Mutasa and Gumbo while also allegedly compromising the separation of powers between the executive and the judiciary.
“Nothing could be further from the truth. This is because the legal import of all that President Mugabe said last Friday is that as a litigant in the matter and in terms of the law, the courts have no jurisdiction to determine a case involving ZANU-PF as a private voluntary organisation in which the complainants, Mutasa and Gumbo, who were members of the party before their expulsion, neither sought nor exhausted all the domestic remedies available to them at the material time.”
In a statement today, MDC-T spokesman Obert Gutu said Moyo’s attempt to “blatantly mislead the nation about Robert Mugabe’s wicked and shameful threat to the judiciary at a function in Chirumanzu-Zibagwe constituency last week is patently shameful and pathetic and indeed, it is grossly insulting to the intelligence of the people of Zimbabwe”.
He said Mutasa and Gumbo had a right to approach the courts to have their grievances resolved, and President Mugabe as the country’s first citizen had to uphold the country’s constitution.
“Mugabe’s careless, irresponsible and reckless statement in which he literally intimidated the judiciary is not only grossly offensive but it is also in extreme bad taste and clearly unconstitutional. At all relevant times, everyone, including Robert Mugabe, has a constitutional obligation to respect and uphold the independence of the judiciary. Mugabe is the first citizen of Zimbabwe in his capacity as the head of State and as such, he should not behave and conduct himself like a misguided missile,” Gutu said.
“It is, therefore, odious and grossly offensive for one Jonathan Moyo to shamelessly seek to mislead the nation into believing that Robert Mugabe was within his rights when he threatened the judiciary. Jonathan Moyo is a master of deceit and chicanery and his record in distorting and manipulating facts is legendary.”
Full statement:
Tuesday, 10 March 2015
Jonathan Moyo a deceitful, self-serving charlatan
The desperate attempts by the Zanu PF propagandist, Jonathan Moyo, to blatantly mislead the nation about Robert Mugabe’s wicked and shameful threat to the judiciary at a function in Chirumanzu-Zibagwe constituency last week is patently shameful and pathetic and indeed, it is grossly insulting to the intelligence of the people of Zimbabwe.
It is an indisputable fact that Robert Mugabe’s utterances were deliberately aimed at intimidating the judiciary in the wake of the High Court application filed by Didymus Mutasa and Rugare Gumbo.
Didymus Mutasa and Rugare Gumbo are entitled to approach the courts in order to resolve whatever grievances that they might have within their faction-ridden and beleaguered political party, Zanu PF. Robert Mugabe is the head of the executive arm of the State and as such, he has an obligation to respect the doctrine of separation of powers which underlies the very essence of a modern democracy.
Thus, Mugabe’s careless, irresponsible and reckless statement in which he literally intimidated the judiciary is not only grossly offensive but it is also in extreme bad taste and clearly unconstitutional. At all relevant times, everyone, including Robert Mugabe, has a constitutional obligation to respect and uphold the independence of the judiciary. Mugabe is the first citizen of Zimbabwe in his capacity as the head of State and as such, he should not behave and conduct himself like a misguided missile.
Robert Mugabe’s threat against the independence of the judiciary is blatantly unconstitutional and as the MDC, we condemn such an utterance in the strongest terms. Robert Mugabe should not continue to behave like a bull in a china shop. As the head of State, he took an oath to respect and uphold the Constitution of Zimbabwe. He should not do anything that has the effect of undermining public confidence and trust in the independence and impartiality of the judiciary.
The reckless and intimidatory statement that was uttered by the nonagenarian is tantamount to a gross and unmitigated abuse of his office as the Head of State. This statement is also repugnant to the tenets of democracy. The MDC maintains that the Head of State should be the first person to defend and uphold the integrity of all public institutions; including the judiciary.
It is, therefore, odious and grossly offensive for one Jonathan Moyo to shamelessly seek to mislead the nation into believing that Robert Mugabe was within his rights when he threatened the judiciary. Jonathan Moyo is a master of deceit and chicanery and his record in distorting and manipulating facts is legendary. The MDC calls upon the Zanu PF regime to respect and uphold the independence of the judiciary if at all this country is going to attract meaningful foreign direct investment (FDI).
MDC: Equal Opportunities for all
Obert Chaurura Gutu
National Spokesperson
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