“We now have a dysfunctional state, made worse by a crisis of illegitimacy, and in desperate need for re-engagement with the international community. This re-engagement grows more remote by the day with reports of gross human rights proliferating, prompting some to term these crimes against humanity,” argued Ibbo Mandaza and Tony Reeler.
It should be stated here that Zimbabwe is a dysfunctional state because it is a de facto one-party dictatorship in which the ruling party Zanu PF has carte blanche powers to blatantly rig elections and to use state institutions to impose its rule on a cowed nation.
38 years of misrule by the incompetent, corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship has landed the nation into this economic mess. Unemployment has soared to 90%, 3/4 of the population are so poor many are dying of want of clean drinking water, food, medicine, etc. The economic situation in Zimbabwe is dire and in need of urgent resolution.
It is obvious the present dysfunctional state will never provide the way out of the economic mess and it is equally obvious that economic situation cannot be allowed to continue. The dysfunctional state must go and this cannot be done quickly enough given the country’s worsening economic situation.
Mandaza and Reeler are suggesting the dysfunctional state should be replaced by a National Transition Authority (NTA). Whether or not the NTA will be any better than the dysfunctional state we have will depend on what kind of animal this authority is going to be. The devil is in the detail!
“It seems obvious in all the discussion about a national dialogue that there must be an end goal. In the current crisis, a national dialogue cannot be merely a talk shop. All who are talking about the national dialogue clearly are thinking about a process that resolves the legitimacy crisis, initiates a substantial process of reforms, and takes the country through to an undisputed election,” continued Mandaza.
“The Zimbabwean NTA does not have to produce a constitution as part of its work. Zimbabwe has a highly operable constitution, a sitting parliament, and a functioning judicial system. Since all these are in place, there will be no need for complex negotiations about a constitution and the nature of the state.
“The legal basis for the NTA will require the suspension of Chapter 5 (Parts 1 & 2) and its replacement by a schedule outlining the powers of a Transitional Executive Council (TEC). This TEC would be time-limited, but, given the depth of the problems facing Zimbabwe, would probably need at least two years in order to implement the reforms, and a "rescue package" to take effect.”
There are many glaring flaws in this argument are here are just some of the flaws.
1 The legitimacy crisis arises out the election process was not free, fair and credible. 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora were denied the vote. There is overwhelming evidence that many rural voters were coerced to vote for the ruling party, as Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission stated in its report. ZEC failed to produce a verified voters’ roll although this is a legal requirement. ZEC’s vote tallies could not be traced or verified because some on the V11 forms, the summary of vote count at the polling station, was never released although this too was a legal requirement; etc. Given all these flaws and illegalities it is therefore nonsensical to claim such an illegal and meaningless process can ever produce a legal result!
2 It is not only Mnangagwa, the executive leg of this regime, but that is also illegitimate, the MPs and Senators too are illegitimate. Chamisa is cherry picking, he is dismissing ZEC’s result of the presidential race but accepts the parliamentary result although both were affected by the same flaws and illegalities noted in 1) above.
3 The legal justification for the NTA is that the present government is illegitimate as Zanu PF has no democratic mandate to govern. The constitution never envisaged a flawed and illegal election process resulting in an illegitimate government. We can either pretend the elections were free, fair and credible and continued to have rigged elections and dysfunctional government or bite the bullet and accept we have an illegitimate government and appoint an NTA tasked to implement the reforms designed to end the curse of rigged elections. After 38 years of rigged elections, the choice is obviously to bite the bullet and finally end this elections charade and madness.
4 The on-going inter-party dialogue is clearly a waste of time as it is premised on Mnangagwa’s demand that all the participants accept him as the legitimately elected president with the legal mandate to govern. So not even Mandaza’s proposed TEC cannot be discussed in the context of the present inter-party dialogue.
5 Even if Mnangagwa was to be pressure to step down and the TEC was formed, it is naive to expect a Zanu-PF dominated parliament, senate, judiciary, etc. with a sprinkling of corrupt and incompetent MDC Alliance leaders to accomplish anything of substance.
6 Zimbabwe’s current constitution is weak and feeble and the reason it has failed to deliver the individual democratic freedoms and rights. Paul Mangwana, the Zanu PF co-chairperson of the parliamentary committee tasked to draft the new constitution boasted that Mugabe “dictated” the new documented and it shows. The task of dismantling the de facto one-party dictatorship is much more than “realigning existing laws to the new constitution” as MDC leaders claim.
7 Zanu PF and MDC GNU of 2008 to 2013 failed to accomplish anything of substance, we must have the courage to come up with a new solution that will deliver the changes we are looking for. Zanu PF rigged last July’s elections we must admit that and say so. Zanu PF has no mandate to govern and must step down, that is not negotiable. We need Zanu PF to clear the democratic space for a fully-fledged NTA with executive and legislative powers to change the constitution and restructure the judiciary, ZEC, etc. that too is not negotiable. After 38 years of letting Zanu PF rig elections and get away with it to appease the party thugs we owe it to the long-suffering ordinary Zimbabweans to finally do the right thing; restore the rule of law and end the curse of rigged elections.
By Jeff Kurai Chakanyuka
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