Chronicle Editor
WE note with concern statements attributed to opposition Movement for Democratic Change deputy chairman Mr Job Sikhala in which he is alleged to have said the party will overthrow the Government before 2023.
Mr Sikhala – an excitable, verbose and eccentric character – is reported to have told an MDC rally in Bikita over the weekend that the party would topple President Mnangagwa who was elected in a legitimate election last year.
“We are a committed leadership that will give Zanu PF headaches and [Amos] Chibaya was not lying or joking about the war and fight we are going to take to the doorsteps of Emmerson Mnangagwa.
We are going to overthrow him before 2023 that is not a joke,” Mr Sikhala was quoted in the media as having said.
His statements drew an immediate backlash and condemnation from all corners of the country with Government and the ruling Zanu-PF party describing them as “insurgent rants” and a “declaration of war” while the MDC moved quickly to distance itself from the utterances, claiming the St Mary’s MP was expressing his own opinion.
Law enforcement agents yesterday arrested the MDC lawmaker and charged him with subverting a constitutionally elected Government.
He will appear in court today. In a statement, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Permanent Secretary Mr Nick Mangwana said overthrowing an elected Government was a serious crime and authorities will decisively deal with any acts of subversion.
“Government has noted with disgust insurgent rants from a member of the opposition threatening the legitimate public authorities in Zimbabwe.
The illegal undermining of a legitimate authority is a serious crime.
Trying to overthrow a government is subversive and Government will not hesitate to deploy the security institutions to constrain such abuse of democratic tenets and maintain the constitutional order,” said Mr Mangwana.
“Zimbabwe is a peaceful country and that peace is not accidental.
That status of a peaceful country will be maintained by ensuring those that threaten democracy and the liberal values adopted by the New Dispensation are tried and if convicted, removed from society and put in places where they do not pose a threat to the rest of civilised society.”
He added: “Every country under the sun has places for miscreants and we would not hesitate make use of them to protect democracy and constitutionalism values which are highly esteemed in the New Dispensation.
“It is understandable that when before a crowd some get excitable and experience a rush of blood to the head. We urge them to demobilise that animal instinct and deploy their faculties located in the higher centres of their brains and embrace constitutional means of opposing the Government.”
Zanu-PF also warned the MDC leadership against making any threats of trying to overthrow a constitutionally-elected Government.
Secretary for Information and Publicity Cde Simon Khaya Moyo said statements by the MDC leadership — including its leader Nelson Chamisa — that they are seriously planning to overthrow President Mnangagwa’s Government is enough proof of a declaration of war.
“The MDC party and its leadership must stand warned that should they pursue such a reckless adventure; the consequences are dire,” he said.
We condemn Mr Sikhala’s utterances with the contempt they deserve and call on the MDC to rein him in because clearly he is a liability to the party.
His reckless statements to topple a legitimately elected Government are not only treasonous and dangerous but they have the potential to throw the country into chaos.
We note the party’s desperate moves to distance itself from the inflammatory utterances and urge Mr Chamisa and his leadership collective to come down hard on Mr Sikhala if they want to be taken seriously.
Zimbabwe is a peaceful country and cannot be turned into an ungovernable lawless jungle just to satisfy the egos and hunger for power of a few misguided characters in the opposition ranks.
The New Dispensation is currently re-engaging with the international community with a view to normalising relations, particularly with the West and such reckless utterances and declarations of war negate those efforts. Mr Sikhala’s statements could have been timed to coincide with Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Sibusiso Moyo’s trip to the United Kingdom today to meet the British Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt as well as the Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Baroness Scotland, to advance Zimbabwe’s re-engagement and mainstreaming efforts.
Their plan to provoke authorities into enforcing the law so as to get negative international attention will come to grief. We are aware that the MDC has never accepted the outcome of the 2018 harmonised elections and the validation of the results by the Constitutional Court, regional and international election observer missions.
While this may be the case, the reality is that President Mnangagwa is the Head of State and leads a legitimate Government and any attempts to subvert this constitutional order will be met with the full might of the law. To this end, Mr Sikhala must have his day in court.
Online Reporter