Jonathan Moyo singing for his supper
By Dr Clifford Chitupa Mashiri
It boggles the mind to figure out Jonathan Moyo’s twisted logic in his daily ranting’s in the state owned media which the other parties don’t have access to.
In his latest mouthing, Moyo claims that MDC-T is in his words “desperately trying to prolong voter registration beyond the 30 –day minimum constitutional requirement after realising that it was failing to get its supporters to register” (The Herald, ‘Moyo alleges MDC-T in panic mode, 11/06/13).
While I don’t hold any brief for MDC-T, it is worthwhile to expose his flawed reasoning. Contrary to Jonathan Moyo’s assertions, it is arguable that it is him and his boss Robert Mugabe who should be panicking about the Constitutional Court imposed deadline, than the opposition to Zanu-PF.
Firstly, going by the rationale of a recent Supreme Court application by Maria Phiri of Bulawayo, former aliens have to acquire identity cards first and cannot immediately benefit from the 30-day voter registration exercise which began on Monday 10th June ending on 10th July. As a result, she argues, polls could only be held after 12th August 2013.
Secondly, Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU) perceptively notes that to comply with the Constitutional Court ruling the President will have to alter provisions of the Electoral Act specifically agreed between the main political parties and which formed part of the 2007 amendments to the Act – that is, that voter registration must end 24 hours before the nomination court sits (see The Election Date Circus, ACT II, 10/06/13).
It is this provision, says RAU, which prevents the President from complying with the 30 day registration period in the Constitution and the Constitutional Court order.
Furthermore, RAU points out that if there is to be compliance with the law, it seems that the President will have to ask the Constitutional Court for a postponement, which he proved very good at during the by-election saga.
However, in RAU’s view, “the problem for the President is that if he is able to ask for a postponement to another date, this will then make it clear that the 31st July, 2013 is not carved in stone by the law, as Zanu-PF would like the populace to believe.”
Thirdly, going by news reports from Harare, the former information minister and serial flip-flopper Jonathan Moyo and other Zanu-PF “prodigal sons” risk being barred from standing as candidates unless they had served in the party as office bearers for a cumulative period of at least five years to the primary elections.
It is common knowledge that if Zanu-PF adopts its guidelines on qualifications for candidates, Jonathan Moyo could kiss goodbye to his ‘Plan B’ of standing as a candidate in Zanu-PF’s primary elections because he was only re-admitted into the party at the end of 2009 after being expelled in 2005.
Tsvangirai should keep tightening pressure to thwart Mugabe’s bid to stampede the country into a farcical election. He should not relent. If he does, Mugabe will laugh the whole way to another sham swearing-in ceremony as president.
Finally, it is safe to argue that the recent regrouping of the opposition coalition against Mugabe’s dictatorship is causing Jonathan Moyo sleepless nights on realising how he has failed to raise Zanu-PF from its ‘Lazarus Moment’ as he races against time before being disqualified in primary elections.
A grand opposition alliance does not necessarily mean all the parties are swallowed by MDC-T. Not necessarily, although a greater convergence would make things easier.
The coalition needs not be in writing either, however it’s regular visibility like we saw last week is enough to cause nightmares in those who have thrived on political violence and vote rigging for decades.
Regardless of how the opposition parties would like to field candidates for elections, at least their priority should be in calling for credible electoral reforms, media reforms; security sector reforms; human rights reforms; sufficient time for voter registration; sufficient time for voter education especially on the electoral systems; finalisation on dual citizenship; international observers and of course UN funding and supervision of the elections.
It should be noted that Zanu-PF’s opposition to the United Nations has nothing to do with sovereignty but because of a hard hitting UN Panel of Experts report produced in 2002 accusing the party, military people and some businessmen aligned with Robert Mugabe of looting DRC’s natural resources including but not only diamonds.
Even Mugabe confessed to having been given a mining concession by Laurent Kabila. As a result, they were slapped with sanctions.
Crucially, any opposition alliance cannot be divorced from the electoral system, which promises to be a mixture of proportional representation and first-past-the- post systems i.e. voting for a party list like we did in 1980 and voting for a particular candidate in constituencies.
The electoral process is inevitably fraught with serious challenges ahead and sharp disagreements cannot be ruled out.
However, leaders of smaller parties should know that they stand a good chance of getting government posts at home and abroad if a grand opposition alliance wins elections than if they stand as smaller mushrooming units.
Ideally, Zimbabwean think tanks should be educating people about the envisaged electoral systems and the pros and cons as well as the modalities of a grand opposition alliance. It is a civic duty.
Otherwise, Jonathan Moyo is just singing for his supper.
Clifford Chitupa Mashiri, Political Analyst, London, [email protected]
