A Constitutional Crisis has been Created in Zimbabwe

By Levi Mhaka

April 3, 2008

THE tenure of office of the President of Zimbabwe is stipulated by Section 29 of the Constitution which states that “the President shall continue in office until the person elected as President at the next election of President enters office.”

President Robert Mugabe has ensured that the results of the presidential election are not announced, to give him and colleagues in Zanu-PF time to work behind the scenes preparing for a re-run after the release of the presidential election results.

Vice Presidents are a type of minister, albeit a senior one. Their tenure, arising out of general and presidential elections, together with that of ministers and deputy ministers, is provided for under section 31E (1) (c) of the Constitution.

Firstly, it was unconstitutional for President Robert Mugabe to have dissolved the Cabinet on March 27, 2008 two days before election day because according to section 31E (1) of the Constitution, the tenure of “the office of a Vice-President, Minister or Deputy Minister shall become vacant:
(a) if the President removes him from office; or
(b) if he resigns his office by notice in writing addressed and delivered to
the President; or
(c) upon the assumption of office of a new President.”

None of these three instances above applied when Mugabe "fired" his vice presidents, ministers and deputy ministers by dissolving the Cabinet.

Secondly, in trying to fill in the ministerial vacuum, the public pronouncements by the former ministers and deputy ministers (like Bright Matonga) are illegal and mischievous. A former ambassador to China, Chris Mutsvangwa, who lost in the Norton constituency, has been pontificating as the government spokesman.

Thirdly, the country has had no Cabinet since March 27, 2008 until the presidential election results have been announced. If there is to be a re-run, there will not be a Cabinet for the next 21 days (at a minimum) during which the election will be held.

This means the president is currently running the country by himself and together with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor, Gideon Gono, the Presidential spokesman, George Charamba (aka Nathaniel Manheru and "Editor-in-Chief" of Zimbabwe Newspapers Ltd and ZTV News), some excitable bureaucrats and senior securocrats, plus a few loud-mouthed Zanu-PF functionaries.

In the absence of a Parliament to hold him accountable, Mugabe is busy working on his political survival and protection of his legacy. The executive institutional functions of the State of Zimbabwe as provided for by section 31H (1) of the Constitution have irretrievably been broken down since “the executive authority of Zimbabwe shall vest in the President and, subject to the provisions of this Constitution, may be exercised by him directly or through the Cabinet, a Vice-President, a Minister or a Deputy Minister.”

Related to this section 31 H (5) stipulates that “in the exercise of his functions the President shall act on the advice of the Cabinet, except in cases where he is required by this Constitution or any other law to act on the advice of any other person or authority…”

Meanwhile, information now available is that it was allegedly the RBZ Governor Gideon Gono who created an impression to international media that there are talks currently going on between Zanu-PF and MDC because he wanted to test the Zanu-PF establishment.

He is actually now shuffling between the two sides to create a ground for an amicable handover of power to the MDC, while protecting Robert Mugabe and calming the security establishment.

Gono is not being sincere because he has more to protect about himself, personal gains and his tenure. The MDC and Simba Makoni aptly exposed his level of economic sabotage and abuse of public resources by fully bankrolling the Mugabe regime in the just ended election.

Meanwhile, the Zanu-PF propaganda machinery is now busy creating an impression that the previous white landowners are back in the country and are visiting “their farms". Britain and the USA are not making it any better by their official pronouncements on the elections. The government of Britain even went further by deciding for the new Zimbabwean government to rejoin the British Commonwealth, as if that alone will solve our many economic problems.

We must not harden Mugabe's position when he is already out. If it can, the MDC must tell Britian, the EU and the USA to keep quiet for their own good and that of the people of Zimbabwe.

This is the time to be very calm and cautious about Robert Mugabe because he is like a suicidal bomber in our midst. Engage him carefully! The Zanu-PF propaganda machinery wants to continue with its election campaign message in which they cast the MDC as Western stooges.

Today's Herald had a story “exposing" the British hand, not that of the people of Zimbabwe, in the winning of the elections by the MDC.

We must be calm as we wait for the results because Mugabe can create and sponsor chaos to find a reason and an excuse to hold on to power.

Update: Following the publication of this article on the Zimbabwe Times news website, Caretaker President Robert Mugabe renewed the tenure of the Cabinet until the Zimbabwe Election Commission (ZEC) has done the needful. The government press statement has not indicated whether this has been gazetted as required by law. Welcome to the a country of absolute illegality and illegitimacy! (10/04/2008)