Mugabe sets election date, Ncube & Tsvangirai cry foul

By Violet Gonda
SW Radio Africa
13 August 2013

Zimbabwe faces new political and legal uncertainty after President Robert Mugabe unilaterally proclaimed July 31st as the election date. Mugabe used a presidential decree to fast track amendments to the Electoral Act to by-pass parliament, in a move that has angered his partners in the coalition government.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said Mugabe’s actions were unilateral and a flagrant breach of the constitution and the Global Political Agreement.

He immediately threatened legal action, saying there are mandatory electoral processes, such as the completion of the voters registration exercise, that need to be finished first and that August 25th is the earliest date that elections can be held.

MDC president Welshman Ncube used the ‘F’ word to describe the implications of these latest developments, which come two days before a special SADC summit on Zimbabwe to discuss the country’s election roadmap.

He said: “It is very clear that this proclamation is deliberately designed literally to tell SADC to f*** off.”

Mugabe said he had also set 28th June as the date for the nomination of aspiring candidates. “Given the need to comply with the deadline for elections as imposed on me by the Constitutional Court judgement, it became inexpedient to await the passage through parliament of the Electoral Amendment Bill to align the electoral law with the new Constitution.

“Accordingly I found it necessary to invoke the Presidential Powers Act in order to comply with the Order given by the Constitutional Court,” Mugabe explained in his letter to his political partners.

But Tsvangirai said Mugabe had breached the terms of the GPA and that the President can only act in consultation with the Prime Minister in respect to any executive decisions, including the announcement of the date of the election.

“I, as PM, cannot and will not accept this,” Tsvangirai told journalists immediately after Mugabe made the announcement.

He said: “The net effect of the proclamation is therefore to infringe on the constitutional provisions obliging the 30-day intense voter registration exercise.

“It will also mean that President Mugabe is disenfranchising many people who were registering to vote, for instance aliens and first time voters. President Mugabe is also denying political parties and Zimbabweans the opportunity to inspect the voters roll.”

Mugabe is accused of abusing the Presidential Powers act, which in the past allowed him to make laws on his own without Parliament, but in the new Constitution “only Parliament has the power to make primary legislation and that its powers of making law cannot be delegated to anyone, including the President.”

Tsvangirai said Mugabe had acted unlawfully and unconstitutionally and is deliberately creating and precipitating an unnecessary Constitutional crisis.

The MDC-T said it is filing an urgent court application and will take the matter up with regional leaders at the extraordinary summit on Zimbabwe in Maputo on Saturday.

Ncube told NewZimbabwe: “It is now patently clear that we are dealing with deceitful scoundrels of the worst kind, not just contemptuous of us in the inclusive government but equally contemptuous of SADC.

He accused ZANU PF of cheating after he revealed that cabinet had agreed to take amendments to the Electoral Act to parliament next week and also agreed that voter registration will run until July 9th. “We also agreed to hold a weekly cross-party review of our election preparedness. Then out of the blue I wake up to receive a letter from Mugabe literally saying go to hell. At this level, this kind of deceit is unacceptable.”

Ncube said: “The ball is now in SADC’s court, do they accept to be deceived this way? Do they accept the brazen contempt against them? If SADC allows Mugabe to get away with this, it would be a very, very sad indictment on them.”

MDC99 leader Job Sikhala blamed the crisis on all the political actors in the inclusive government.

Sikhala told SW Radio Africa: “Those people who have been with ZANU PF in the inclusive government are stupid. They have betrayed the people of Zimbabwe. We have been expecting Welshman Ncube and Morgan Tsvangirai to force ZANU PF to have political reforms.They have been in this government and have never done anything. The three political parties are responsible for the crisis. For five years I never thought they would bring to the table this nonsense.”

Constitutional lawyer Dr. Lovemore Madhuku said the MDC formations must just ‘swallow their emotions’ and accept that elections should be held next month. Speaking during a panel discussion on the Hot Seat program, with constitutional lawyers Derek Matyszak and David Coltart, the chairman of the National Constitutional Assembly reiterated that it is better to “break the constitution” than to delay elections.

Matyszak insisted it is impossible to finalise electoral processes within the remaining time frame and said the constitutional crisis shows a serious problem in the separation of powers in the country.

Coltart revealed that Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku said, when he ordered the July 31st election deadline, that any Constitutional Court ruling has to be in compliance with the constitution and the electoral law.

Coltart said: “That is why we feel we have strong grounds to go back to the Constitutional Court to ask the court to vary its judgment so that its order is brought in compliance with the dictates of the constitution.”

Meanwhile, the International Crisis Group’s Piers Pigou said Mugabe does not really have to stick to this date and his sudden proclamation, just two days before the SADC summit, could be part of a chess game being played by ZANU PF in order to force through other compromises.

He also said the “shocked” reaction from the MDC formations is surprising, as they should have seen this coming.

Click here for Hot Seat elections debate

Click here for Interview with Piers Pigou

Click here for Morgan Tsvangirai press conference