adminTHE INTERVIEW Eliot Ziwira
As Zimbabweans await with bated breaths to cast their ballots in the much anticipated harmonised elections on Monday next week, political parties and their protagonists position themselves for the big haul. The Herald’s Elliot Ziwira (EZ) had a conversation with ZANU-PF Secretary for Legal Affairs Paul Mangwana (PM) on the party’s preparedness and the opposition’s tiff with ZEC among other issues.
EZ: As the election campaign trail reaches the homestretch, what is the pervading feeling in ZANU-PF?
PM: Victory is certain for ZANU-PF! The question is with what margin? We believe that we are campaigning well and the people are receiving our message. We are very happy with the way the people have been responding. I think the attendance at our rallies is a clear testimony of how they are receiving our leader President Mnangagwa and our party in general. We are happy with the campaign so far.
EZ: There seems to be outstanding demands coming from the MDC-Alliance, lack of implementation to which may lead to the opposition outfit’s disregard of the outcome of the July 30 harmonised elections. Do you as ZANU-PF share the same grievances?
PM: There are no outstanding issues. We have been negotiating with the MDC for the last four years through what we call inter-party dialogue. These matters they raised last week were new matters and I think ZEC was correct in dismissing most of the raised issues, which were based basically on superstition. You cannot tell a judge exercising her decisions in her sober senses to say a vote migrates from one political party to another.
There is no scientific explanation for that kind of thing. It has not been proven by any empirical evidence to say it can happen. And, I think ZEC was correct to dismiss that kind of thing. We cannot work on superstition. We are a modern country, which believes in science. ZEC has shown all political parties the ballot papers and the ink, and no evidence has been shown that the ink migrates.
EZ: So as ZANU-PF, you don’t share the same grievances with the opposition?
PM: We don’t share the same grievances with the MDC-Alliance! In fact, there are no grievances at all.
EZ: Allegations are rife that the ruling party’s silence as regards the said reforms may be an indication that ZANU-PF and ZEC are playing from the same corner. What is your comment on that?
PM: ZEC commissioners were appointed through the participation of the MDC. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission was set up by Parliament through the Standing Rules and Orders Committee of which Nelson Chamisa is a member.
So in fact Chamisa, appointed ZEC commissioners and for him to turn around today and say ZEC is partisan is a big joke. Chamisa was actually the chair of the Parliamentary Committee which selected ZEC officials. We as ZANU-PF should be complaining probably that ZEC is sympathetic to MDC-Alliance because Chamisa participated in its set up and he knows the commissioners as individuals.
Chamisa simply wants sympathy from the international community. He is aware that he is going to lose in the election so, he is preparing a ground for protesting the outcome, which he already knows. He is also managing their internal politics because from here, he knows that there is going to be a congress and his colleagues are coming after him. There is a lot of factionalism in that party, so he wants to sell this idea that elections were rigged because if he loses in the elections, he is likely to lose the leadership of the MDC.
EZ: Has the MDC-Alliance been given adequate platforms to air concerns pertaining to their tiff with ZEC?
PM: Yes, they have. They raised the same grievances before ZEC and ZEC considered the merits of their grievances and dismissed them. But we have had four years of inter-party dialogue. They raised a number of issues, which we clarified with the electoral bodies during the four years that those issues did not become part of our agenda because they never existed.
EZ: There was a multi-party liaison committee meeting yesterday (Tuesday), and you were said to have walked out.
PM: Yesterday, we were receiving the decision of ZEC on the issues which have been raised by the MDC-Alliance and we were not negotiating anything. I did not walk out. I just left after ZEC had made a pronouncement of the decision they have reached and sought questions from the delegates if anyone needed clarification.
Members of the opposition started attacking ZANU-PF arguing that we influenced ZEC to make that decision. I sought protection from the chairperson, who was handling the matter and they decided not to protect my party and, then I thought I could not stand there to be insulted, so I left. It is not true that I walked out. Whatever we were going to say there was not going to change anything. ZEC was simply delivering their judgment.
EZ: In your capacity as a lawyer would you consider ZEC effective in interpreting the constitutional provisions of the Electoral Act?
PM: Certainly, they are. I respect the Chairperson of ZEC (Justice Priscilla Chigumba), who is a judge of the High Court. The whole team is interpreting the provisions of the law correctly. The Vice Chairperson of ZEC (Emmanuel Magade) is also a lawyer of high repute. He is also a lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe and has been lecturing for more than 30 years.
And, I am sure they are giving a correct interpretation to the provisions of the (Electoral) Act.
EZ: There are allegations that the electoral body’s independence is compromised, because it remains an arm of Government. What is your reading of that?
PM: That is not true. ZEC is a constitutional body, which is only answerable to Parliament. It’s not even answerable to the Ministry of Justice or the President. Its powers are clearly provided for in the Constitution. ZEC is not an extension of the ministry (of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs).
EZ: It is widely agreed that efforts have been made to even the playing field ahead of the polls in a few days’ time, but there are reservations in some quarters in the incumbent’s use of State resources to sell long-term plans to the electorate. For instance, commissioning of projects in the run-up to the polls, as a campaign strategy. What is your take on that?
PM: The Government does not stop functioning because there is an election. The President will remain the President of the country before, during and after elections, until a new President is sworn in, so that it won’t create a vacuum. So, he (President Mnangagwa) is commissioning projects, which he started, or which his Government initiated, and there is nothing wrong with that.
There is always what is called the advantage of incumbency. We can’t expect the President not to use a motorcade, State resources for transport or to fly in a helicopter, because he is campaigning. He is still the President. In the remote possibility that the MDC (Alliance) takes over the office, they will also enjoy the same, and it is internationally accepted. The advantages of incumbency cannot be ruled out.
EZ: As ZANU-PF, have you reached out to other parties (the opposition) in an effort to iron out differences with ZEC, especially in the wake of scathing accusations thrown at commissioners?
PM: We have no mandate to defend ZEC. We have been having inter-party dialogues for the last four years like I said, and we ironed out almost all the differences we had.
The issues being raised are pure political posturing, and not serious issues, issues based on superstition. We cannot assist them to modernise their way of thinking.
They have been attacking individuals using hate speech, even attacking the President. Tendai Biti in particular is the mother and father of all hate speech. We have not responded, because our leader the President is on record advocating peace and the need to desist from using hate speech, so that we have peaceful elections. But, they have been provoking us. They have been using derogatory language against us, but we have kept our peace and have not responded.
EZ: There is talk about an inclusive Government coming up, as there is a feeling that there may not be an outright winner in the presidential poll. What is your response to that?
PM: Our Constitution does not provide for such an eventuality. We operate an electoral system which is called a “first past the post”. It is based on the winner take-all principle.
Even if you win by half a percentage point, you have a right to form a Government on your own. That is our electoral system, which we agreed on with the MDC during the Constitution-making process that we are going to adopt a first past the post system.
So, there is no room for an inclusive Government in our Constitution. There has to be an outright winner. It’s either you win or you lose. That’s it.
EZ: Coming to the issue of the MDC Alliance proposed demonstration set for today (yesterday), which was banned by the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), wouldn’t the opposition argue that the police is meddling in politics?
PM: No! The police are responsible in ensuring that we maintain law and order in the country. The laws governing demonstrations etc. are not suspended because there is an election. So, Posa (the Public Order and Security Act) is still there, and Posa has minimum timelines that it grants anyone, who wants to demonstrate.
What the police has simply said is that between now and elections, no one can demonstrate because you will not be able to meet the minimum timelines; and, the police have no capacity to manage a demonstration, while most of their members are already distributed right across the country to maintain law and order during the election period. They would be overstretched.
EZ: In the event that the MDC Alliance boycotts the harmonised elections, would you as ZANU-PF have sleepless nights over it?
PM: With or without the MDC Alliance’s participation, the elections will proceed, because no political party is compelled to participate in elections.
EZ: Can you shed light on your role in ZANU-PF? Are you the new spokesperson?
PM: I am the Secretary for Legal Affairs. That is my position in ZANU-PF. An election is a legal issue, so I have been given special responsibility to engage with the media and other stakeholders during this election period.
I am simply playing that role, but I remain the Secretary for Legal Affairs. I am not the spokesperson. Honourable Simon Khaya Moyo is still the party’s spokesperson. We do not operate in silos in ZANU-PF, we work together, and I have a special responsibility.
I am not campaigning or participating in the election, so because of that time factor, I am working together with Honourable Khaya Moyo, who is participating in the elections. But then, I am engaging various stakeholders on behalf of the party, because as I said earlier on, the party does not operate in silos.
Online Reporter