Resist temptation to attack State institutions

AT the turn of the millennium, when Zimbabwe came under siege from the West for repossessing land lost to colonial occupiers, our security forces came under relentless attack.

This was not surprising.

The end state of the siege was to collapse the Government and pave the way for a pliant administration to mind the interests of the West in Zimbabwe.

So, weakening the country’s timetested and battle-hardened defences, which were the bulwark against forces that were angling for regime change, was considered a priority.

Talk of security sector reform was, therefore, invariably raised by the West and the opposition.

The country’s security services — both uniformed and ununiformed — were accused of unrestrained abuses against human rights activists, who were, however, nothing more than quislings and battering rams of the West.

But Zimbabwe, which saw through the mischief, refused to budge.

And today, Zimbabwe still stands despite incessant multi-pronged attacks.

Over the years, we have learnt that chipping away against the reputation and integrity of State institutions is one of the preferred tools to weaken, degrade and create disaffection with sitting governments in targeted countries.

Over the years, we have witnessed growing insidious campaigns against institutions such as the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), one of the five Chapter 12 independent commissions; Parliament; the Judiciary; the Zimbabwe Defence Forces; and the Zimbabwe Republic Police.

In cases where the institutions themselves are not directly targeted, ad hominem attacks on officials who preside over them have been common.

A recent case in point is the inexplicable attacks on Parliament and Speaker of the National Assembly Advocate Jacob Mudenda after the recent recalls of 15 CCC MPs and nine senators by Sengezo Tshabangu, who claims to be the interim secretary-general of the party.

Leaders of the opposition, most of whom, as lawyers, are officers of the court, know fully well that the Speaker of Parliament has no business being an arbiter in leadership wrangles of political parties that make up the august House.

This position is spelt out in previous court judgments.

And for CCC to blame Adv Mudenda for the recalls is not only disingenuous but mischievous as well.

It undermines the integrity of such a critical arm of the State.

It has become apparent over the past few days that this is a purely internal issue in the opposition, which needs not involve anyone outside the CCC.

Fully aware of this cold hard fact, the opposition decided to disengage from Parliament and council business, regardless, ostensibly claiming this had been prompted by the gross illegality perpetrated by Adv Mudenda, whom they accused of doing the ruling ZANU PF’s bidding.

And further claims that the disengagement by the CCC could amount to a constitutional crisis are both nonsensical and fatuous.

It would have made sense if we had a coalition government, in which case disengagement would have collapsed the Government.

As it stands, ZANU PF has an absolute majority and can easily transact parliamentary business.

The only losers would be people in constituencies who are currently represented by the opposition.

Besides the latest episode playing out in Parliament, this year, we also saw attacks on the Judiciary, especially after judgments in cases that were brought before the courts following the sitting of the Nomination Court on June 21.

The opposition was largely silent in cases they got favourable judgments but was quick to allege the capture of the Judiciary when they lost.

In one case, Saviour Kasukuwere’s lawyer, Jacqueline Sande, went to the alarming extent of alleging that judges of the High Court had been bribed in order to block her client’s candidature.

Although she later apologised for the defamatory statement after the Judicial Service Commission threatened to bring her to book, the damage had already been done, as the allegation — though untested and untrue — found its way in Nevers Mumba’s SADC Electoral Observation Mission preliminary report.

This just shows how such mischief can be potentially weaponised against the State.

While addressing the 119th Ordinary Session of the ZANU PF Central Committee, President Mnangagwa made it unequivocally clear that Zimbabwe will resist such attempts to mischaracterise the country as a “banana republic”.

“The people of our great motherland have spoken; the collective voices must be respected. Democracy and constitutionalism reign supreme in our country,” he said.

“We strongly condemn the opposition who are rejecting constitutionalism and democracy in our country by disregarding our laws, institutions and processes. Zimbabwe, under will never be a banana republic, ‘a free for all’.”

Whatever their grievances might be, Zimbabweans should resist the temptation to attack State institutions.

They are the critical building blocks of our sovereign nation.