Categories: Stories

Why is Zimbabwe tolerating this charade?

Now for round two. Chamisa has challenged the results at the Constitutional Court.  Nothing wrong with that because it is his constitutional right. But he has publicly stated before that he does not trust the country’s courts because they are pro-Mnangagwa.

With the support of some sections of the media, the integrity of the judiciary is already being questioned before the case has been heard.  The case is supposedly a test of the independence of the country’s judiciary. Why!

The underlying assumption is that if Chamisa wins, then the judiciary is independent. If he loses, the judiciary is towing the ZANU-PF line. What kind of warped thinking is that?

Even the application process itself is patently aimed at discrediting the judiciary. Papers are filed at the last minute so that the judiciary and its officials can be blamed for stifling the opposition.

One media report even said the nine-member Constitutional Court is beholden to Mnangagwa. It said records suggest that only one or two judges of the court can be relied on to deliver on the law. Seven or eight are therefore beholden to ZANU-PF.

The same report questions the credibility of Zimbabwe’s Chief Justice Luke Malaba saying he gave a “bizarre ruling” on the 2013 elections some “four years later”.

In short Chamisa has already lost the case before it has been heard. So why waste the country’s time when the outcome is already known and is already being disputed?

As The Insider has pointed out before, a Mnangagwa victory is bad news for too many people.

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This post was last modified on August 18, 2018 8:57 pm

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Charles Rukuni

The Insider is a political and business bulletin about Zimbabwe, edited by Charles Rukuni. Founded in 1990, it was a printed 12-page subscription only newsletter until 2003 when Zimbabwe's hyper-inflation made it impossible to continue printing.

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