Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration, which stands accused of complicity over recent recalls of Members of Parliament (MPs) and councillors belonging to Citizens’ Coalition for Change (CCC), is under pressure to influence the reversal of the widely condemned illegal removal of elected opposition representatives.
The Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC) this Monday became the latest body to criticise Mnangagwa and Parliament for disregarding the will of the people.
“In the aftermath of the 2023 elections, the church has been closely monitoring developments in the nation and is deeply concerned with the emerging behaviours from Parliament, the random recalling of the 15 members of the CCC party,” said ZCC in a statement.
A fortnight ago one Sengezo Tshabangu, who purports to be CCC interim secretary general (SG), wrote a petition to Speaker of Parliament, Jacob Mudenda, and successfully recalled 15 MPs elected in August alleging they had ceased to be members of the party.
The self-styled SG also wrote to the Local Government Minister Winston Chitando, purportedly recalling 17 CCC councillors for a similar reason.
In a letter to Parliament, CCC president Nelson Chamisa denied Tshabangu was a CCC official and, therefore, was not qualified to act in the manner he did, but Mudenda scoffed off at Chamisa saying he must seek redress at the courts.
ZCDC said the process places a serious dent in the nation’s drive for development under the 10th Parliament.
“The recalls of the CCC parliamentarians places a wedge between political actors and their supporters, hence further perpetuating the deep polarisation and divisions that has characterised our nation before and after the August 2023 elections.
“The country is still recovering from the disputed 2023 elections processes, outcomes and results. The recalls will relapse the country into partisan discourse instead of healing and uniting the nation towards a common vision.
“Whilst the move to recall MPs was initiated by political actors, it disrespects the will of the electorate who sacrificed their time on election day to cast their vote and select the leaders they want,” the clergy further noted.
“These recalls strongly send signals that political actors are power focused and do not consider the will of Zimbabweans who vote, thus undermining the significance of elections as a process that portrays the will of the people.
“Given the fragile political landscape, the recalls could be interpreted as a deliberate move to silence and dismantle opposition alternative voices leading the country towards a one-party state which is a violation of the 2013 Constitution Section 3 (2)(a) and Section 67 (4).
“The recalls pose a threat to democracy as this could lead to consolidation of power which contradicts the key democratic tenets.”
The statement further highlighted the recalling of MPs created a vacuum in the lower house, which ultimately affected the legislative quality and capacity.
Under the legal agenda, ZCC added, there will be critical Bills to be reviewed, hence the removal of MPs weakens the quality of laws that will be passed during the period.
There are cost implications of the recalls as there is a need for the conduct of by-elections.
“By law, the recalled MPs and councillors require replacements through by-elections. This implies that the country will continue to be gripped and fixated on election mode.
“Instead of focusing on nation building and economic development in the post 2023 elections, Zimbabwe’s development will remain stunted affecting country’s capacity to support the poor and vulnerable.
“Elections have a heavy fiscal strain on the limited resources that can be directed towards developmental programmes.
“The 2023 elections revealed that the limited fiscal resources have a huge bearing on the logistical capacity of the Electoral Management Board, ZEC, to conduct elections.
“The possibility of holding by-elections against the background of constrained fiscal resources raises questions on the capacity of ZEC to conduct such elections in a credible, free and fair manner, especially as we are a few months if not weeks away from our harmonised elections.”
ZCC said it noted the alleged manner in which the Speaker of Parliament handled the recall process, that is, the recognition of a letter from the interim CCC secretary general yet disregarding the communique from the CCC President.
“This allegation taints and validates the long-standing assertion of unfair practices in our strategic state institutions.
“The country is hurting and trying to recover from allegations of use of loopholes and application of law to shrink the democratic space. Thus, this unfolding incident will buttress the assertions of captured institutions.
“This is a serious dent on the drive for re-engagement which His Excellency is leading and will undoubtedly distract the country from focusing on national development as all efforts are redirected to politics and by-elections.
“The ZCC reiterates the prophetic call for dialogue towards disentangling the country from the election mode and finding a path to a collectively defined future; building unity, shared national values and vision; inclusive and shared economic prosperity; healing, justice and peace; and entrenchment of constitutional democracy.
The umbrella church organisation appealed for review and repeal of section 129 (1)(k) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, which has been widely abused to disempower the electorate and resulted insignificant waste of resources through by-elections.
The scathing pastoral letter by ZCC comes hard on the heels of yet another one from the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe (EFZ), which blasted Speaker of Parliament’s partisan conduct allowing unconstitutional recalls of elected opposition legislators and councillors saying the move scuttles democratic tenets.
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