admin
George Maponga and Prosper Ndlovu
CDE Gideon Gono may yet secure the vacant Senate seat in Manicaland, Justice Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa said yesterday.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) said last week that the former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor was ineligible because he was not registered as a voter in Manicaland. The ZEC went further to say that it would have been possible to transfer his voter registration to Manicaland from Harare to clear that hurdle but there was currently no law enabling this since the adoption of a new constitution in May last year.
The Zanu-PF politburo which met last Wednesday found no fault with the ZEC chief Justice Rita Makarau’s ruling, and Cde Mnangagwa indicated after the meeting that Zanu-PF would not be challenging the ruling.
But speaking in Masvingo yesterday, Cde Mnangagwa said the government had the burden of correcting the legal vacuum preventing the registration of new voters or their transfer. This, he said, had potential to clear the way for Cde Gono to take up the seat left vacant following the death of Cde Kumbirai Kangai in August last year.
“The problem with our Press is that they’re very uneducated and weren’t able to correctly interpret what Justice Makarau said with regards to the issue of Cde Gono,” he said, speaking during a tour of the Herbert Chitepo School of Law that is under construction at Great Zimbabwe University in Masvingo.
“Justice Makarau said there was a lacuna, a vacuum that needs to be looked into. She said there is necessity for the vacuum in Cde Gono’s bid to be corrected.
“Cde Gono still has very high chances of landing the Senate seat, absolutely high chances, but the problem with our media is lack of education.”
Cde Mnangagwa said laws were not made to suit specific individuals, adding that there were many people who would benefit together with Cde Gono once the vacuum in the law alluded to by ZEC was dealt with.
He did not specify how the so-called vacuum would be dealt with or when it would be addressed to enable Cde Gono to fulfil his dream of entering the Senate.
Yesterday, Zanu-PF national chairman Cde Simon Khaya Moyo urged senior party figures to speak with one voice as he clarified the party position on Cde Gono.
He said the politburo took a position not to contest ZEC’s decision on the matter, but the legal committee led by Cde Mnangagwa would advise the party on the best way forward.
“This is a legal matter and we’re not contesting by any manner the ruling by ZEC. But we said it’s up to our legal team to look at other ways of handling this matter, whether there’s a possibility of taking it anyhow, but not with ZEC because you can’t challenge ZEC,” said Cde Khaya Moyo.
“We said the legal department can come up with a position that we don’t know. It can’t be now but anytime in future.”
Cde Khaya Moyo said he was surprised that a purely legal matter could kick up such consternation in the party.
“This is not any issue of conflict. In fact I wonder what all this noise is for. The ZEC letter was written to me as chairman and I took it through the proper channels,” said the national chairman. “I’m speaking on this as a recipient of the letter and not as the spokesperson of the party.”
Cde Khaya Moyo, meanwhile, refuted reports that he lashed out at Cde Mnangagwa and some unnamed senior party officials for purportedly usurping responsibilities not under their purview.
He said yesterday’s report by our Harare Bureau, which was also published in the Chronicle, was “unfortunate” as it did not reflect the import of a Press briefing he held in the capital on his weeklong visit to Cuba last week.
He protested: “At my Press conference in Harare yesterday (Thursday) on my recent visit to Cuba, I never at any point slated Cde Mnangagwa on any matter. I never slate colleagues in my scheme of things. I’m very aware of my responsibilities both as national chairman of Zanu-PF and Senior Minister of State in the President’s Office.”
He said during the Press briefing, a journalist from our Harare Bureau kept insisting that he was aware of what had transpired in the Zanu-PF politburo on Wednesday regarding Cde Gono’s Senate bid.
“I advised that the party had a spokesman. I went on to say if he was not a spokesman, ‘don’t speak’. I went further to advise that the Press conference was about my visit to Cuba, period. I, however, further commented that ‘journalism was a noble profession based on ethics.
While the pen is said to be mightier than a sword it should never be used as a sword. It’s mightier because it’s used to convey the messages which educate, entertain and unite people’,” said Cde Khaya Moyo.
The Senior Minister said his emphasis at the Press conference was on the implementation of Zim-Asset economic roadmap as it relates to the Cuban experience on value addition and beneficiation of their natural resources.
“I never slate people. If there’s an issue to raise, I do it directly with the person concerned,” he insisted.
In the report, the Senior Minister was quoted as saying no-one had the right to speak to the media except the party’s spokesperson.
Journalists in attendance assumed this was in reference to Cde Mnangagwa, who had initially appeared to contradict party spokesman Cde Rugare Gumbo by telling the media shortly after the politburo meeting that the party would not contest ZEC and the matter was closed. Cde Gumbo has insisted that the politburo referred the matter to the legal committee, while taking a decision to accept the ZEC ruling.
Cde Khaya Moyo was quoted as saying: “You don’t speak at cross purposes if you’re disciplined and united. In the liberation war there was unity, we were focused but now it appears people have forgotten that history and we must return to that in the sense that as a party we have a constitution, we have protocols and all you need to do is to stick to the constitution, stick to those protocols because that will be a major sign of discipline,” he said. “If you’re not a spokesman, don’t speak.”
Online Reporter