MDC-T PRESS STATEMENT ON THE THREAT BY ZANU PF TO OVERTHROW THE NEW CONSTITUTION

The MDC T is horrified by the a press report of the devious and evil plan hatched by ZANU PF political party to abuse its ill-gotten majority in Parliament to overthrow the Constitution of Zimbabwe assented to only on 22 May 2013 and yet to be implemented, i.e. before the ink has even dried on it. Coupled with the Head of States appalling and ill-advised threats to the judiciary over pending litigation against his political party, this toppling of the Constitution would sound a death knell to the ailing state of the rule of law and constitutionalism in Zimbabwe.

Such a threat to revoke all but the 1st 4 chapters of the Constitution , or any part of it before it is implemented, is a full frontal attack on the people of Zimbabwe who approved of the Constitution by a landslide world record 94% yes vote , in the referendum of 16 March 2013. It betrays ZANU PFs contempt of the will of people of Zimbabwe, and their aspirations for a just and prosperous society.The MDC T reminds the ZANU PF that it is bound to respect the will of the people of Zimbabwe, from whom the authority to govern is derived as provided by Section (3)(2)(f) of the Constitution.

The MDC T rejects, with the contempt that it deserves, the feeble and incredible excuse advanced of reducing government expenditure. While the size of Parliament is indeed bloated, that is the least of the causes of the governments failure to raise revenues, it being caused instead by the ZANU PFs ineptitude in running an economy and cluelessness in reviving it. Reducing the size of Parliament will not exonerate ZANU PF from dealing with the economic fundamentals needed to instill confidence in the economy which is impossible as long as the present tired, overstayed and failed leadership of ZANU PF in totocontinues to misrule Zimbabwe. The MDC T sees through ZANU PFs sinister and thinly veiled motive of abrogating the peoples hard won civil liberties and guarantees of good governance that it has no intention of implementing hence its dragging of feet in implementing the Constitution .ZANU PF must respect the sanctity of the Constitution and only tinker with it as a last resort, which is not at all necessary in this case. If ZANU PF is sincere about reducing government expenditure the MDC T challenges it to start by simply halving its size of a staggering legion of 71 inclusive of Cabinet ministers, their deputies, and ministers of State. It should abolish the posts of the 10 ministers of State for provinces which are in any event a subversion of the Constitution because it abolished provincial governors. It should learn from our neighbour Mozambique whose government has a trim total of 49 inclusive of deputy ministers. It should also remove ghost workers from its payroll, reduce recruitment of the security forces, reduce foreign travel expenses to the bare necessities, plug abuse of expenditure by adhering to the Auditor Generals recommendations and eliminate corruption. The MDC T demands that the government publishes the comparative costs of all the above items of its expenditure and the cost of parliamentary seats so that the public can decide for itself how government expenditure can best be cut.The MDC Ts position is that Constitutional and Independent Commissions are not negotiable- they are the only means the long suffering masses have of venting their voice against the ZANU PF governments abuse of power. The MDC T objects to the misogynistic trivializing of the Gender Commission by a legal mind who is a former independent MP but whose very continuance in Parliament when his political party publicly admitted him to membership is an epitome of disdain by ZANU PF for the Constitution whose Section 129(1)(k) clearly provides that an independent MP loses his/her seat upon joining a political party, while Section 324 provides that All constitutional obligations must be performed diligently and without delay.The MDC T also sees through this plan to reduce Constitutional Commissions as a subterfuge trick to prevent the Peace &Reconcilliation Commission from holding ZANU PF accountable for its atrocities against perceived political opponents. The MDC T finds this threat to change the composition of Parliament as sabotage of gender balance in Parliament as the temporary 60 proportional representation seats for women in the National Assembly will in any event fall away in 2023.The MDC T condemns ZANU PFs failure and refusal to entrench gender balance mechanisms among other pro democracy electoral reforms in the recent Electoral Amendment Bill, which would eliminate the need for extra seats for women. The MDC T reminds ZANU PF that just because it has the necessary majority to make these regressive changes to the Constitution, it doesnt make it right to trample on the clear will of the people. The MDC T welcomes the long overdue appointment of the Attorney General and expects him to be the champion of the implementation of the Constitution and hopes that this will improve the observance of the rule of law and constitutionalism.The MDC T demands that the ZANU PF government immediately abandons its wild plans to overturn the Constitution, stop hiding behind the excuse of aligning statute law and instead implement it diligently and without delay as it requires. If ZANU PF does not heed this demand the MDC T will certainly mobilize the populace to defend their constitutional gains.

FUNGAYI JESSIE MAJOMEMDC T Secretary for Justice, Legal & Parliamentary Affairs8 March 2015