Madhuku’s ‘Damascene’ Moment

The Financial Gazette

By Clemence Manyukwe

13 June 2013

IN politics, it is often said there are no permanent allies or enemies, but only permanent interests.

In the past few months, Lovemore Madhuku, one of the country’s leading constitutional lawyers, has proved the truism of that statement.

His occasional outbursts against his former allies in the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) have come as a surprise to many.

Madhuku’s marked departure from his allies’ path became more pronounced last year when he said President Robert Mugabe would be justified to call for fresh polls under the Lancaster House constitution.

At the time, most reform-minded Zimbabweans and the Southern African Development Community were all rooting for a new charter, which became a reality last month when it was signed into law by the incumbent.

This week, Madhuku appeared to be toeing ZANU-PF’s line when he said foreign firms   were seeking to re-colonise the country while blasting Prime Minister (PM) Morgan Tsvangirai, his erstwhile ally, as “narrow-minded.”

His most frightening suggestion came this week when he said President Mugabe should enforce electoral amendments through a presidential decree thereby subverting the role of Parliament.

By urging the President to cut corners and make Parliament redundant even before the lawful expiry of its term, Madhuku was seen advocating the violation of the principle of separation of powers in favour of political expediency.

This week political analyst, Ricky Mukonza, said if the recommendation was implemented, it would drag the country back to the dark ages.

“I think allowing the President to make such a decree is undemocratic and it would appear we are moving back to the era before the new Constitution,” said Mukonza.

Parliamentary expert, John Makamure agreed, saying  while it was lawful for President  Mugabe to use his presidential powers, this is only justified upon Parliament’s dissolution.

“Presidential powers are only justified when Parliament has been dissolved. Why would the President do that when Parliament has not rejected the Electoral Amendment Bill?” retorted Makamure.

“The primary role of Parliament is to make law, so Parliament should be allowed to exercise its role without interference from the Executive arm of government.”

Makamure said there was enough time for the Electoral Amendment Bill to pass all Parliamentary stages before the dissolution of the legislature on June 29 as there are mechanisms for fast-tracking laws if the need arises.

But as analysts took a dim view of Madhuku’s sentiments, the law professor has become a darling of the State media, marking a departure from yester-year when he was treated like an outcast.

Madhuku has also lauded a Constitutional Court judgment setting a July 31 poll deadline as sound, while paying scant attention on calls to level the political playing field.

It’s not only the MDC-T which has dismissed Madhuku. The other political parties such as ZAPU,  the Welshman Ncube-led MDC as well as civil society organisations have not accepted his  reasoning.

Last week, Ncube told his supporters that everyone needed to respect court judgments, but courts should avoid inviting intellectual ridicule.

“When you have immense final judicial authority, as does our Constitutional Court,  you must not make judgments’ which tell us    that 1 plus 1 equals 3. I have read and reread  the majority judgment over and over againand again and I have read again and again the provisions of the former constitution and the current Constitution that fell for interpretation and my mind refuses to accept the possibility of the correctness of that judgment,” said Ncube.

“To accept that judgment as correct would amount to me committing grave violence on my intellect. With the greatest respect, the majority judgment is plainly wrong.”

This week, David Coltart, the MDC secretary for legal affairs described Madhuku’s call for presidential powers to be revoked at this stage as astonishing and simply ludicrous.

He dismissed Madhuku’s assertions that a proclamation made now would not be prejudicial as those seeking to contest polls were not first time voters.

Coltart argued that such reasoning ignores provisions of section 43 of the Constitution, which allows tens of thousands of Zimbabweans who were viewed as aliens to vote and contest polls.

But is there a possible explanation for Madhuku’s new thinking?

Media analyst, Brighton Musonza, offered some insights.

“I think Madhuku is stuck on his dislike of the new Constitution such that he holds it in contempt because he opposed how it came into being and so he has  the latent desire to undermine it for his long-term agenda to prolong the call for a new charter,” said Musonza.

Last year, the MDC-T released a statement suggesting that Madhuku may be on ZANU-PF’s payroll, adding that his reasoning was now seriously impaired by what it termed fanaticism of President Mugabe.

The party’s conclusion came as both foes and friends have previously portrayed Madhuku as a crooked character.

In a leaked WikiLeaks cable, the then United States ambassador to Zimbabwe Christopher Dell said Madhuku generally overstates the size of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) protests and questioned the effectiveness of his demonstrations.

Madhuku is the NCA chairperson.

Previously, President Mugabe has described Madhuku as an opportunist influenced by the love of money.

“There are some fraudulent human rights campaigners like Lovemore Madhuku and his NCA who, when broke, intentionally provoke the police in order to get arrested and raise money from the donors…That’s the Madhuku survival strategy for you,” said President Mugabe.

Madhuku has also been accused of preaching what he does not practice and thinking that politics is about books.

After accusing President Mugabe of clinging to power, in 2006 he was controversially re-elected as NCA chairperson after amending the group’s constitution and even though he was supposed to complete his final term in 2011, he remains at the helm of the assembly.