IN his inauguration speech on Monday this week, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said: “I have once again taken an oath as a humble servant leader and President, committed to wholeheartedly serving you all, the people of our great motherland, Zimbabwe.
“Under this renewed mandate, I have re-committed to continue faithfully upholding and defending our sacred national Constitution and laws, with integrity and impartiality, leaving no one and no place behind.
“I stand before you, my fellow Zimbabweans, at this historic moment of our nation as President of all Zimbabweans, regardless of tribe, religion, colour, creed, or political persuasion.”
It is in this context that we would like to bring attention to the President of some critical issues which failed to unite Zimbabweans during his first term.
We beseech the President to, indeed, defend “our sacred national Constitution and laws, with integrity and impartiality” by immediately and resolutely taking a strong stance against any violations of the country’s governance charter.
A case in point is the alleged abduction and torture of opposition Citizens Coalition for Change members we hear are being targeted by unspecified people.
A President committed to serve all Zimbabweans, “regardless of tribe, religion, colour, creed, or political persuasion”, should order an immediate investigation into the abductions and demand that the culprits be brought to book.
In his first five-year term, Mnangagwa hardly batted an eyelid at incidents of violence perpetrated on opposition members, which we believe is one of the many reasons which made him very unpopular.
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The President cannot afford to remain quiet about these incidents, which have the potential of causing permanent damage to his reputation.
He cannot stand akimbo while the people he claims to be humbly serving are being hounded for simply being members of the opposition.
What better way than to prove his commitment to defend the country’s Constitution and laws by rooting out this scourge of abduction and torture of his fellow countryfolks.
Many have been abducted and tortured, some have disappeared without trace in the past and this cannot continue to happen under Mnangagwa’s reign, otherwise his oath and commitment risk being dismissed as hollow.
Curiously, Zimbabwe has not even taken toddler steps to domesticate the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance to help stop this dreadful scourge.
As parliamentarians are sworn in today, it is our sincere hope that the President implores the country’s new crop of lawmakers to prioritise the alignment of our laws to the Constitution.
