Zanu-PF happy, MDC not at Zim Concourt ruling

The Zimbabwe Constitutional Court’s ruling, which endorsed Emmerson Mnangagwa as president, has further created a widening wedge between nationals living in South Africa.

Speaking to several after the court’s outcome on Friday, The Sunday Independent found them divided on the verdict.

Zanu-PF supporters were clearly elated by the outcome while Movement for Democratic Change supporters were still crying foul despite the court’s ruling that their party’s legal representatives had failed to provide evidence to nullify the July 30 polls.

Kennedy Mandaza, Zanu PF secretary for Information and Publicity in South Africa, said it was pleased with the outcome.

“The verdict is a confirmation of the will of the people as expressed in the outcome of the polls. It was going to be difficult for (Nelson) Chamisa to overturn what the majority of Zimbabweans had said in those polls.

“As Zanu-PF, we are very excited for obviously many reasons other than the victory. What has taken place in Zimbabwe is testimony of deepening and maturing democracy which President Mnangagwa promised to deliver when he came into power in November.” Mandaza said

He said the outcome had further shown to the world that it was possible for Zimbabweans to deal with their own internal issues.

“We equally applaud the judiciary process of Zimbabwe for conducting themselves professionally.”

Mandaza said it was now time for the people of Zimbabwe to unite and to rebuild the economy.

“We are confident that President Mnangagwa will ensure that he selects a team that will help him deliver on the vision and aspirations of Zimbabwe, which are well captured in the Party manifesto.”

Mandaza called on all Zimbabweans regardless of political persuasion to accept the results and rally behind Mnangagwa.

Frankton Murinyu, Zanu-PF youth chairperson, agreed with Mandaza.

“I’m happy actually I was a bit angry with the delay of the inauguration of our president Ed Mnangagwa.

“As Zanu-PF, we won the presidential elections. It was Chamisa’s right to challenge the results.

“The truth is he was fooled by Facebook, WhatsApp and social media users that he had many people. As the youths in diaspora, we are behind Mnangagwa and we are many. We might not make a lot of noise like our opposition counterparts but we vote,” Murinyu said.

Mthokozisi Nkomo, MDC Alliance deputy secretary, claimed that the ruling had underrated the Zimbabwean people and insinuated that the highest court of that land had sided with Zanu-PF and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).

“We the MDC Alliance raised the issues of voters roll, unfairness and selective media coverage. There was no education to the voters, but no one heard our cries.

“Having said all that, this election was decided by the people who counted the votes, not the voters,” Nkomo said.

Nkomo appealed to all its members and people at large to respect the rule of law, and not engage in any unlawful conduct.

“Elections come and go but we remain Zimbabweans, we assure them that freedom is coming, they mustn’t give up.

“Our victory was stolen by ZEC and Zanu-PF. Zim politics has always been painful and elusive since 1980,” he said.

Trust Ndlovu, MDC Alliance chairperson, alleged that Zanu-PF had interfered in the electoral process, saying Zimbabwe was now “a military state”.

“It does not take a rocket scientist to see that the executive in Zimbabwe interfered in the judiciary. For example, Ziyambi Ziyambi, the Minister of Justice, illegally prevented the MDC legal council from defending the party because they were foreigners.

“The judge has shown his vulnerability by conforming to executive manipulation of election results by Mnangagwa. In short, the judge has helped the military regime to subvert the will of the people,” Ndlovu said.

The Sunday Independent