Open letter by Calisto Mudzingwa
Dear Honourable Members of Parliament,
I am writing at the behest of the Zimbabwean masses, to implore you to exercise the powers vested in you by the Constitution of Zimbabwe; Section 29, 11.1 paragraphs 3(c):
The President shall cease to hold office if a report of the Senate and the House of Assembly, appointed by the Speaker in consultation with the president of the Senate upon the request of not fewer than one-third of the members of House of Assembly, has recommended the removal of the President on the ground—that he is incapable of performing the functions of his office by reason of physical or mental incapacity; or
Ladies and gentlemen, the onus is on you to take the initiative to “request the removal of the President on the grounds that he is incapable of performing the functions of his office by reason of physical and mental incapacity.”
Then, The Honourable Speaker, Mr Lovemore Moyo, who is a noble and courageous man—‘indoda sibili’, will take it up from there. Foremost, you, the Honourable members of the august House, need to be man enough—amadoda sibili—to set the ball rolling, (Ladies, forgive please).
My reason for kindly reminding you of these powers vested in you by the Constitution of Zimbabwe is that the numerous articles in the press regarding the health (and age) of his Excellence, the President of Zimbabwe and Commander-in-Chief are not baseless.
First, there were these telling revelations from Dr Gideon Gono—a confidante of the president—asserting that His Excellence, the President of Zimbabwe and Commander-in-Chief has prostate cancer. WikiLeaks reports that in June of 2008, McGee wrote:
Gideon Gono, Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), told the Ambassador on June 4 that President Robert Mugabe has prostate cancer that has metastasised and, according to doctors, will cause his death in three to five years.
Furthermore, according to the notorious Wikileaks, Dr Gideon Gono said that: Mugabe’s wife had confided in him that the President was ‘out of it’ about 75 percent of the time and she wanted him to step down. Now, ladies and gentlemen, how much more evidence do you want before you can exercise the powers constitutionally vested in you?
The First Lady, Amai Grace Mugabe, stressed that “his Excellence, is out of it 75 percent of the time’. I trust that you all believe her, especially on issues regarding the health of her husband. If you cannot believe her, then, you won’t believe anyone.
It is reasonable if some of you are not convinced by the notorious Wikileaks: What about the recent reports in the media that His Excellence, the President of Zimbabwe and Commander-in-Chief needs help manoeuvring steps; his memory is failing; he is visibly shaking; he now walks at a snail’s pace?
What about the pictures that accompany such reports? Remember: A picture is worth a thousand words.
On 7 November, the Zimbabwe Mail reported:
Yesterday, a visibly shaking Mugabe was helped to manoeuvre the steps up and down the podium where he conferred degrees while seated. Mugabe, who is known to make long speeches, did not say much at the function. In one instance he referred to Chinhoyi University of Technology as Chinhoyi College much to the embarrassment of his learned colleagues at the high table.
I know that in your midst, there are doubting and spineless Thomases who need tonnes of evidence before they can support this constitutionally enshrined activity. I will give these doubting and spineless Thomases two examples:
First, when Professor Jonathan Moyo successfully petitioned the courts asking them to nullify the election results that had ushered in Lovemore Moyo as speaker of the House, who ever thought that the MDC-T could win the Speaker’s position again?
Against all odds, MDC-T once more trounced the Revolutionary Party—ZANU PF. For those of you who think that the numbers won’t add up to the required one-third— calm down; there are many Tracy Mutinhiris in the house.
Second, the Wikileaks cables are littered with confessions from the most powerful people in the Revolutionary Party who are in desperate need of a revolution: his Excellence, the President of Zimbabwe and Commander-in-Chief should step-down.
The chances of succeeding in this constitutionally enshrined exercise are far greater than what the doubting and spineless Thomases amongst you would want you to believe. Ladies and gentlemen, all that the masses of Zimbabwe are begging you to do is to exercise the powers given to you by the Constitution.
By the way, this constitutionally enshrined procedure that the Zimbabwean people are pleading with you to urgently undertake is in agreement with the Zimbabwe Global Political Agreement (GPA). Article XI, 11.1 (a) of the GPA says:
The parties hereby agree that it is the duty of all political parties and individuals to: respect and uphold the Constitution and other laws of the land;
Honourable members of parliament, please, don’t entertain this silly talk about elections: the strategy outlined above is the only practical and sensible route to take for now. There is absolutely nothing to wait for.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is our moment; On behalf of all the suffering masses of Zimbabwe, I plead with you to seize it!
Sincerely, Calisto Mudzingwa