Zunde criticism water off a duck’s back
By Patrick Guramatunhu
Justice Benjamin Paradza, VP of ZUNDE, is right in his scathing attack of VP Mnangagwa’s public endorsement of the country’s Chiefs, who have been behaving as if they are Zanu PF’s chief thugs!
“Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa could not have been serious when he said traditional leaders are expected to be pro-Zanu-PF and can never be apolitical,” wrote Justice Paradza.
“Needless to say that as the minister responsible for the Justice portfolio, he was the author of the Constitution which specifically provides to the contrary.
According to the Zimbabwe constitution, chiefs are not allowed by law to belong to any political party, let alone Zanu-PF. It is therefore irresponsible for the second-in- command of any constitutional government, to publicly encourage a breach of the same laws that he crafted and must uphold.”
What Justice Paradza must understand is that VP Mnangagwa was only publicly stating what is happening on the ground. The Chiefs have been actively working with Zanu PF, as the party’s storm troopers, denying the people their basic rights and freedoms in much the same way the Chiefs helped the white colonial government.
The Chiefs and Village Heads have been marshalling the people and frog marching them to Zanu PF rallies and to vote for the party for decades now.
None of the Chiefs have ever stood with the people in the fight for people’s basic rights and freedoms in the spirit and tradition of the late Chief Rekayi Tangwena.
Zanu PF has corrupted the traditional Chief culture for its own selfish political gain just as the regime has corrupted all the other State institutions like the judiciary, Police, Army, etc. A few weeks ago Justice Paradza wrote a similar piece condemning Zanu PF for turning the War Vets into the party’s foot-soldiers.
It looks like ZUNDE accepts there are serious political defects in the country’s political system but instead of coming up with a holistic solution the party is addressing the problems piece by piece.
“Zanu-PF has trashed many things and the country is now on its knees. They should stop acting like rabid dogs on an unstoppable trail of destruction. They must stop attacking the cultural health of our people by forcing chiefs to belong to them,” wrote Justice Paradza.
Yes Justice Paradza, Zanu PF has “trashed many things and the country is now on its knees” but calling Zanu PF “rabid dogs” will neither stop the regime using Chiefs to marshal and frog march people to attend party rallies nor will this piece-meal approach put right all the other institutions the party has corrupted.
Does ZUNDE believe Zimbabwe’s Copac constitution is the democratic constitution capable of delivering free and fair elections, as MDC leaders had assured the nation before the March 2013 referendum?
Does ZUNDE believe that the democratic reforms agreed in the 2008 GPA have all been implemented and there are no more reforms that must be implemented before the next elections to ensure they are free, fair and credible?
Is ZUNDE going to contest in the next elections or is it going to do so under certain conditions? If the latter, then what is the party doing to make sure these conditions are met; other than calling Zanu PF “rabid dogs” to get them to end their political stranglehold of the country’s Chiefs?
Many people applauded when ZUNDE was launched nearly two months ago. We expected the party to hit the ground running, at least to have a coherent position on all the above questions. Or was that expecting too much!
Let me tell you Justice Paradza, it will take a lot more than calling President Mugabe and Zanu PF “rabid dogs”, water off a duck’s back, to stop them using the Chiefs, the Police and all the other corrupted institution in rigging the next elections!
