THE Job Sikhala-led National Democratic Working Group (NDWG) has petitioned the African Union (AU), demanding its intervention to stop Zanu PF from amending the Constitution to extend President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s term of office among other controversial proposals.
In a petition dated February 11 addressed to African Commission chairman Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, NDWG acting chairperson and chief facilitator Zenzo Nkomo said a constitutional coup was underway in Zimbabwe.
“NDWG, the Zimbabwe social justice movement under the leadership of Job Sikhala — the surviving political prisoner, lawyer and former Member of Parliament in Zimbabwe who is our chairman and chief facilitator — writes to your honourable office to alert you of the coup in motion currently happening in Zimbabwe in violation of Article 30 of the African Union (AU) Constitutive Act to extend and prolong the term of office of the incumbent,” Nkomo said.
“This petition seeks to highlight what is currently happening in Zimbabwe in relation to the instruments the AU created to counter the undemocratic imposition of rule by regimes without the consent of the governed — which in short amounts to a coup.”
He said the Lomé Declaration (2000) and related protocols expanded upon what constituted an unconstitutional change of government (UCG), to include military coups and manipulation of the Constitution to stay in power.
“Our raising of the red flag against the developments happening in Zimbabwe is informed by point number 5 of the Lomé Declaration. Zimbabwe is a member State of the AU and in terms of international law, it is bound by the rules, protocols and the Charter of the AU,” he said.
“Developments happening in Zimbabwe to mutilate the Constitution to prolong and extend the term of office of the incumbent constitute a coup and unconstitutional change of government.”
Nkomo said the AU could not remain silent when a coup is in motion in one of its member States, particularly given Zimbabwe’s obligations under its charter and protocols.
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“Many people are being abused, lives are being lost, the anti-coup peaceful campaigners are under severe repression, attack and arbitrary arrests, and there is an escalation of human rights abuses as we petition you for your intervention,” Nkomo said.
He noted that the proposed constitutional amendments constitute a flagrant violation of the AU Constitutive Act.
He demanded that Zimbabwe be suspended from the African Union as stipulated in Article 30 of the Constitutive Act, which provides that governments which come to power through unconstitutional means shall not be allowed to participate in the activities of the union.
“To debunk any doubt in the minds of all those who may not have knowledge of our AU Constitutive Act provisions, the specific offences that constitute unconstitutional change of government were defined by the Lomé Declaration in 2000 to give effect to what constitutes unconstitutional change of government,” Nkomo said.
“What is currently happening in Zimbabwe is a coup and an unconstitutional change of government against its people in terms of the African Union (AU) Constitutive Act and we seek the implementation of the remedy provided for in terms of Article 30 — that it must be applicable and implemented.”
Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi on Tuesday submitted the amendment Bill to Cabinet, setting the amendment in motion amid an outcry from the opposition and civic sector.
The AU is yet to respond to Sikhala’s petition.
