THE country’s securocrats — who for the past four years have threatened to destabilise the coalition government by their open declaration of allegiance to Zanu PF — have further solidified their position with Zimbabwe Prison Service Commissioner-General Paradzai Zimondi yesterday telling his subordinates to rally behind President Robert Mugabe in this year’s harmonised polls.
Report by Everson Mushava/ Hilary Maradzika
Addressing prison guards at the conferment of promotions to prison officers in Harare, Zimondi described this year as “historical” and “a special year in the history of this country”, a year, he said, that should see Mugabe getting a landslide victory.
“We are quite privileged to have a visionary leader in His Excellency, the Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, President R G Mugabe, who has made it possible for you to be where you are today,” Zimondi said.
“I have no doubt that you will never want to let such a leader down, especially this 2013, which is a special year in the history of this country.”
Zimondi, who was one of the first among top security officials to openly campaign for Mugabe in recent years, made the latest such remarks in recent days after fellow generals made the same comments.
Zimbabwe Defence Forces commander General Constantine Chiwenga last week lampooned Prime Minister Morgan and this particular document was a result of a meeting we had on Monday where everybody agreed.”
Matinenga said sections of the draft that appeared to have caused friction between the parties, like abortion and same-sex marriage, had apparently been misinterpreted.
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The correct position, he said, was that the two matters had been outlawed in the new charter.
“Religious groups have raised concern that the new constitution might provide for abortion, but there is no truth in that. There is also a misconception that the constitution provides for same-sex marriages. It (the draft constitution) is very specific and says people of the same sex are prohibited from marriage,” he said.
The minister said some of the best features of the new charter were the comprehensive Bill of Rights which included political, civil, socio-economic, cultural and environmental rights, as well as issues of transparency that address term limits for the President, permanent secretaries and commanders of security forces.
MDC-T secretary-general Tendai Biti said the draft constitution, if passed into law, would establish a new social contract for Zimbabwe which had been afflicted by violence, abuse and fear of power.
“This constitution is a fundamental departure from the past of violence, monopolisation of power, privatisation of power and that what matters is the colour of your political card and the region you come from,” Biti said.
Defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa said the constitution was good in that it recognised that land belonged to the people of Zimbabwe.
MDC secretary-general Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga said the draft constitution was good as never in the history of Zimbabwe did a constitution deal with the issue of term limits.
“We are going to have a situation where anybody who gets into power makes sure they go and whereby no one thinks they are going to be in power in perpetuity,” she said.
