The Reader: Zimbabwe election result challenge deserves success

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Contested: Emmerson Mnangagwa, here laying a wreath in Harare, should settle the election through legal means
AFP/Getty Images
24 August 2018
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THERE will never be a free and united Africa while you still have dictators such as Yoweri Museveni, the President of Uganda, and Emmerson Mnangagwa, the President of Zimbabwe. Today in Zimbabwe there is going to be a constitutional court challenge, where Nelson Chamisa, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change opposition party, challenges the outcome of the elections that took place on July 31.

But what chance does a saintly Chamisa have against a reptile — “The Crocodile” Mnangagwa — in overturning a constitutional court verdict? While men such as him use violence and fraud to remain in power, we will never realise the true potential of Africa.
Bigboy Sibanda

THE flaws within the Zimbabwean justice system are widening. It is clear that the system is mendacious. Ziyambi Ziyambi, the minister of justice, has no constitutional right to decide who should represent Nelson Chamisa, the MDC Alliance leader, in court. Mr Ziyambi should stop putting insurmountable obstacles to try to prevent the natural course of justice prevailing in the court challenge to the recent election result.

This is also why the British MP Kate Hoey, one of the observers at the Zimbabwe elections, is saying the international community should not accept the result since the election was rigged.
Isaac Chawasarira

EDITOR'S REPLY

Dear Bigboy and Isaac

You are both right, and it’s important that people continue to speak out after an election which promised so much hope but hasn’t — yet — fulfilled it.

I have many Zimbabwean friends and admire Zimbabwe, which, despite terrible torment, has persisted in trying to change things through democratic elections and the rule of law. Both have been subverted, but some faith in the process remains, which is why this week’s court challenge to the election result matters. It’s in everyone’s interests, including President Mnangagwa’s, that the election be settled through legal means — though like you, I’m not sure he will allow it to happen. Britain is home to many Zimbabweans and retains strong links with the country, which is why our government’s attitude matters too. Some worry that we have been too quick to endorse the post-Mugabe government in order to trade and step up development aid. Other EU states have been more cautious. Our new Foreign Secretary would do well, I think, to take advice and stand up for the freedoms that Zimbabweans so clearly want.

Julian Glover, Associate Editor (Comment)

May should pick a Brexit trade deal

BREXIT supporters will happily blame the EU if there is no deal rather than owning up to their attempts to undermine the negotiations. The Government has made a mess in moving forward because of in-fighting within its own party.

The EU has made good trade arrangements with Norway, Switzerland, Canada and Japan. Theresa May could easily pick one of these models which, with a few amendments, would suit both Britain and the EU, and get on with finalising the agreement.
Baldev Sharma

RETURNING from a recent holiday in Europe to the Brexit debate at home reminded me of “locked-in syndrome” sufferer Jean-Dominique Bauby’s observation in his memoir The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: “There comes a time when the heaping-up of calamities brings an uncontrollable nervous laughter — when, after a final blow from fate, we decide to treat it all as a joke.”
Mike Bor

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