In 2013, the people of Zimbabwe voted overwhelmingly for President Mugabe to be their Head of State and Government until 2018, at the very least.
A year later, the ruling Zanu-PF party was unanimous in its determination that President Mugabe be their sole candidate for the 2018 Presidential election.
That decision and position was affirmed at the 2015 Annual National People’s Conference.
All these outcomes are what empower President Mugabe, as clearly stated in both the national and Zanu-PF constitutions to lead a Cabinet at State level, and the Politburo at party level.
These constitutional outcomes are what give President Mugabe the authority to appoint all the people he duly appointed to hold whatever briefs they hold.
The President also has the right to appoint certain officials, like a spokesperson to speak on his behalf.
How then can anyone, more so an appointee, seek to challenge those appointments, to denigrate them in whatever manner, without he or she also directly attacking not only the President, but also the Constitution of the land and subverting the will of the majority?
How does an appointee ascribe idiocy to the official pronouncements of a President’s spokesperson without ascribing same idiocy to the appointing authority on whose behalf said spokesperson speaks?
Surely, if the spokesperson has lied about a Presidential position on a matter, then the President knows this better than another appointee and surely knows better how to handle the situation.
What is particularly disheartening is that while this frenzied tweeting that casts aspersions on the President’s Constitutional and popular authority continues unabated, some senior party authorities – who should be the custodians of discipline and order – are in fact saying such attacks via the social media are trivial and should not attract Zanu-PF’s attentions.
Are we saying the President’s judgement can be ridiculed so brazenly by some of his appointees without there being any repercussions?
For months, taunts have been thrown at a Vice-President of the Republic, a Vice-President of the ruling party, and now when some people stand up to say enough is enough, it is claimed those demanding respect for authority and order are factionalists and successionists.
The majority that voted for President Mugabe, that outright majority that vested its trust in his judgement, is being urinated on and is expected to pretend that it is raining.
There seems to be a serious and dangerous misconception that holding certain positions in the party and Government implies seniority in the grander political scheme of things.
It is a misconception that former Vice-President Joice Mujuru can testify to being harmful to careers. No one should think that they hold a position in perpetuity.
The President is the sole centre of power, he will determine the fate of those who seek to undermine his Constitutional and popular authority. Egos will land, and they will land hard.
Rather than seeking to subvert Presidential authority through frenzied tweeting and other verbal jousts that put nothing on the tables of Zimbabweans, all appointees should be busying themselves with that which they were appointed to do.
The people want food, jobs, houses, education, healthcare, security and prosperity.
That is what should be occupying the attentions of those who right now seem to prefer to engage in personality battles that only serve to undermine the authority of the President and subvert the Constitution.
So what is needed is really quite simple. Either those who fancy themselves kingmakers who are above Constitutional and popular authority reorient their energies towards service delivery, or they are relieved of their duties so that people who are more focused on delivering tangibles to the citizenry fill in those posts.
There, quite frankly is no third imaginable alternative to this situation. There is no rocket science to it. There is no need for frenzied tweeting. Zimbabweans are tired of all this self-serving nonsense. Now, more than ever before, something has got to give.
COMMENT: Factionalism: Something has got to give
The Sunday Mail
In 2013, the people of Zimbabwe voted overwhelmingly for President Mugabe to be their Head of State and Government until 2018, at the very least.
A year later, the ruling Zanu-PF party was unanimous in its determination that President Mugabe be their sole candidate for the 2018 Presidential election.
That decision and position was affirmed at the 2015 Annual National People’s Conference.
All these outcomes are what empower President Mugabe, as clearly stated in both the national and Zanu-PF constitutions to lead a Cabinet at State level, and the Politburo at party level.
These constitutional outcomes are what give President Mugabe the authority to appoint all the people he duly appointed to hold whatever briefs they hold.
The President also has the right to appoint certain officials, like a spokesperson to speak on his behalf.
How then can anyone, more so an appointee, seek to challenge those appointments, to denigrate them in whatever manner, without he or she also directly attacking not only the President, but also the Constitution of the land and subverting the will of the majority?
How does an appointee ascribe idiocy to the official pronouncements of a President’s spokesperson without ascribing same idiocy to the appointing authority on whose behalf said spokesperson speaks?
Surely, if the spokesperson has lied about a Presidential position on a matter, then the President knows this better than another appointee and surely knows better how to handle the situation.
What is particularly disheartening is that while this frenzied tweeting that casts aspersions on the President’s Constitutional and popular authority continues unabated, some senior party authorities – who should be the custodians of discipline and order – are in fact saying such attacks via the social media are trivial and should not attract Zanu-PF’s attentions.
Are we saying the President’s judgement can be ridiculed so brazenly by some of his appointees without there being any repercussions?
For months, taunts have been thrown at a Vice-President of the Republic, a Vice-President of the ruling party, and now when some people stand up to say enough is enough, it is claimed those demanding respect for authority and order are factionalists and successionists.
The majority that voted for President Mugabe, that outright majority that vested its trust in his judgement, is being urinated on and is expected to pretend that it is raining.
There seems to be a serious and dangerous misconception that holding certain positions in the party and Government implies seniority in the grander political scheme of things.
It is a misconception that former Vice-President Joice Mujuru can testify to being harmful to careers. No one should think that they hold a position in perpetuity.
The President is the sole centre of power, he will determine the fate of those who seek to undermine his Constitutional and popular authority. Egos will land, and they will land hard.
Rather than seeking to subvert Presidential authority through frenzied tweeting and other verbal jousts that put nothing on the tables of Zimbabweans, all appointees should be busying themselves with that which they were appointed to do.
The people want food, jobs, houses, education, healthcare, security and prosperity.
That is what should be occupying the attentions of those who right now seem to prefer to engage in personality battles that only serve to undermine the authority of the President and subvert the Constitution.
So what is needed is really quite simple. Either those who fancy themselves kingmakers who are above Constitutional and popular authority reorient their energies towards service delivery, or they are relieved of their duties so that people who are more focused on delivering tangibles to the citizenry fill in those posts.
There, quite frankly is no third imaginable alternative to this situation. There is no rocket science to it. There is no need for frenzied tweeting. Zimbabweans are tired of all this self-serving nonsense. Now, more than ever before, something has got to give.
CARTOON
Share This:
More Stories: