Luke-ing the Beast in the Eye: Zimbabwe is not a monarchy …. And executive power is not sexually transmitted

Today is the 57th anniversary of the Unilateral Declaration of independence (UDI) when the racist colonialist Ian Douglas Smith unilaterally declared independence from Britain on 11 November 1965. The UDI spawned a serious political and economic crisis for the oppressive regime in the then Salisbury.

Students of politics and history will remember the famous Madzimbamuto case, which remains the locus classicus in matters to do with the doctrine of necessity and other related legal concepts.

Similarly, Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa may have unilaterally declared this country a monarchy as we have seen his wife transacting matters of the State when she is just but a mere First Lady and not a State actor.

Executive authority is not sexually transmitted. We told Mugabe the same message when his wife started pilfering executive authority by berating and publicly excoriating government officials at Zanu PF rallies.

The President’s wife, especially an illegitimate one, has no business in matters of the State. But a few days ago, Zimbabweans were shocked when Auxillia Mnangagwa held a meeting with Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

She acted like a government official and according to the Iranian press, the meeting in Tehranwas about ” expanding and deepening the relations between the two countries .”

After their meeting in Tehran, the Iranian Foreign minister pointed to the meeting between the Presidents of the two countries on the sidelines of the recent United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York.

The Iranian Foreign minister emphasized the resolve to ” promote relations in various fields and sectors between the two countries .”

Outside her matrimonial and conjugal responsibilities to her electorally illegitimate husband, Mrs Mnangagwa has no mandate whatsoever to transact any business on behalf of the State of Zimbabwe, as she did in Tehran.

It was a major diplomatic boob by an illegitimate emissary who happens to be the spouse to a Head of State whose legitimacy remains legitimately contested to this very day.

We are not new to this experience of a First Lady who arrogates herself executive authority. And the same experience tells us that this will not end well. Hazvipere mushe izvi .

Zvaazvekumba kwavo The Mnangagwa family has become the State but Zimbabwe is not a monarchy with the Mnangagwas as the royal family. But even in a monarchy, as in the UK, State business is not transacted by the royal family.

Executive authority is vested in an elected Prime Minister and his government and nowhere else.

We certainly can’t have a First Lady holding what the media called ” bilateral engagements ” with foreign governments. In any serious country, it would be a treasonous abomination.

But then we are just but a banana republic!

Sleeping with the President does not confer anyone with executive authority. I repeat: Executive power is not sexually transmitted !

The emerging ED cult movement

The arrogation and brazen pilferage of executive authority by Mnangagwa’s wife is not an isolated incident. It is in sync with the creeping cultism around Mnangagwa’s personal brand. All Zanu PF politics now evolves around his name.

We have recently seen the emergence of Varsity students for ED. Previously, we had seen the emergence of funny cult movements such as Miners for ED, Farmers for ED, Young Women for ED, Teachers for ED, Health Workers for ED, Doctors for ED, Mahwindi for ED, Drunkards for ED, among many others.

But given his blood-soaked legacy and what he truly stands for, we had hoped to see and hear about Rapists for ED, Thugs for ED, Murderers for ED, Land barons for ED, Cartels for ED and PollRiggers for ED and so forth.

The Mnangagwa brand of politics is such that everything must be centred around him. (as well as his wife, friends and family). Under ED, all his partisan empowerment programmes have been Presidentialised.

There is the Presidential wheat scheme, the Presidential borehole scheme, the Presidential farm input scheme, the Presidential village gardens scheme, etc. . Everything has been Presidentialised. Yet the man is not claiming ownership and authorship of the national rot that has festered under his stewardship.

We expected to hear about the Presidential potholes on our roads, the Presidential poor salaries for civil servants and the Presidential rot and decay across all sectors of the economy.

Conclusion

Madam Auxilia Mnangagwa was indecorously allowed to engage a foreign government. And we saw and read about her acting as a State player and talking about deepening and strengthening bilateral relations.

That was scandalous in the realm of international relations to see a First Lady brazenly pilfering State power in broad daylight. We saw it in the last days of Robert Mugabe and this will certainly not end well.

Zimbabwe is not a monarchy. And if there is anyone who was under any shadow of doubt that this is not in any way a new dispensation, then Auxillia’s recent antics should provide an adequate answer.

Mnangagwa is simply a scarfed Robert Mugabe on steroids. Indeed, the more things change, the more they remain the same.

Luke Tamborinyoka is a journalist and an ardent political scientist. He is a citizen from Domboshava and is a champion in the Citizens Coalition for Change ( CCC ). You can interact with him via his Facebook page or on the twitter handle @ luke_tambo.