By a Special Correspondent

Zanu PF and Mugabe’s lame attempts to regain lost ground through vitriol and pseudo-bravado over the last few days are nothing but particles of water off a buck’s back. Without much ado, it is important that we flesh out the issues at stake right at the onset. We must declare that we are no longer sure about young Arthur’s position now that Gabriel Chaibva, a turn-coat who was ordered by Zanu PF to surrender our Harare South constituency to Hubert Nyanhongo in 2005, has cleared the air about that grouping’s allegiance to Mugabe and Zanu PF. Mugabe later assigned Chaibva, a man trained as a Zanu PF militia in 1984 in Bindura and Marondera, to distort our votes in Budiriro, but only managed to get away with a battered 504.

In the Budiriro by-election, Chaibva was young Arthur’s reckless spokesman and close buddy. The former MDC rebels seem to have completely turned their backs on the people, considering the group’s clearly visible concord with Zanu PF on all areas under discussion. The Global Political Agreement is no longer an isolated document, exclusive to the three feuding political parties. The contents, the pact and the reality are part of the Zimbabwe Constitution. As such ordinary Zimbabweans are at loss as to why the parties are still debating enforceable provisions of a Constitution that is currently in use. To shout from the top of mountain and announce that Mugabe and Zanu PF have slipped back to the past; they are no longer interested in the rule of Unity of purpose lacking ...Zanu PF willfully vandalizing Constitution  law; they now want to breach the sitting Constitution for self, face-saving  reasons does wash.

SADC, the world and Zimbabweans cannot understand what the political hype is all about. The GPA is now part of the law, part of the Zimbabwe constitution. Can three parties, which willingly signed the agreement and pushed the Constitutional amendment through Parliament last year, spend days, weeks and even months talking about what is already part of our life? What do Mugabe and Zanu PF mean when they say they now want to re-open debate on an existing Constitutional provision? The issues the law-abiding people of Zimbabwe are raising are straight forward. They want full implementation of the law. If one party wants to break the law willfully, that party must simply say so. If a party wants to willfully commit a crime against the people, they must just come out in the open.

Both the nation’s courts and the general court of public opinion shall have to decide what to-do with a criminal in their midst. It is unheard of, and totally unthinkable, to MDC to be pushed to continue to talk to criminals who have gleefully announced, through an unquestioning and emasculated State media, that they have resolved to commit a crime. Brazenly these criminals even explain how they hope to do it: to stop the land audit; to disrupt preparations for Constitutional hearings; to refuse to respect the authority and office of the Prime Minister; to lout court orders at will; to engage in violence; and to incite civil servants to go on a strike. If Zanu PF declares that it shall make no more concessions on the GPA, that should be noted and the country moves on. Zimbabweans would be happy to see the full implementation of the 16 items already agreed upon as a road- paver to a new Constitution and fresh elections. We reluctantly went into this loveless marriage. We won an election in2008. We are even readier for another.

Zimbabweans want their institutions to allow our democracy to sit down: the Electoral Commission, the Media Commission and the Human Rights Commission. There are happy that there is consensus on these issues. The commissions must begin to work. Whether Mugabe and Zanu PF delays the work of the Parliamentary Select Committee working on the new Constitution or not, the major victory for the people so far was the removal of Tobaiwa Mudede from election management; Tafataona Mahoso from the media regulatory body; and George Chiweshe from the Electoral Commission. Today, anyone can publish a newspaper without having to go through George Charamba and Mahoso. Zimbabwe Newspapers set the ball rolling, in this vacuum. There is new gossip sheet trading under the name H-Metro. Did Zimpapers break the law? If so, which law? Ask Charamba? The January circular from Misheki Sibanda, a Mugabe side-kick, is as unfortunate as it is legally dangerous. For a senior civil servant to commit to paper such a blatantly illegal act is surprising.

The legal consequences of such a move are serious. Sibanda knows what should happen, unless he does not respect the rule of law. Why should Sibanda succumb to childish political pressure when he is supposed to be Zimbabwe’s most senior government adviser? The Constitution is clear as who should be running the government. If anything, Amendment No.19 rendered the offices of our two vice presidents nearly moribund. President Tsvangirai has executive authority, part of which he donated to Mugabe – the losing candidate in the March 2008 election – not vice presidents orMisheki. The office of the vice president, though recognized in the Constitution, is simply an additional bureaucratic layer devoid of any political or policy significance. That is why the recent appointment of John Nkomo largely went unnoticed. People were busy preparing for their first Christmas season in decades. Only last week, Zanu PF parliamentarians cried foul over an ill-advised motion calling on President Tsvangirai to scrap the so- called sanctions. Our chief whip, Hon. Innocent Gonese rightly reminded them that those who live in proverbial glass houses should not throw stones.

We have hundreds of potential Parliamentary motions which can easily throw the mud on the fan. Who abducted and tortured Pascal Gwezere, our transport manager? And why? Millions lost their lifelong savings in the banks only a year ago. Businesses were forced to start from nothing; pensions died from starvation; and more 200 people were killed during the so-called Operation Mavhotera Papi? Thousands were displaced and can’t even go home today because rogues, whom we all know and can identify, still roam the countryside. These are potential Parliamentary motions our legislators can push through Parliament with ease. Some of the Zanu PF parliamentarians were personally involved in the sad events of 2008.  We have a dossier of out standing criminal cases. Ask Johannes Tomana. We have been very patient with our heaps of evidence linking Zanu PF to nonsense. We thought we are all committed to a semblance of unity of purpose. Now that Mugabe and Zanu have come out of the woodwork, we are being forced to respond, as a natural right. With effect from this week, we shall tell our story right up to the day we go for elections. It is up to you Zimbabweans to judge. Crime must never pay. Together, to the end.