My Dear People
I am watching very closely Walter Mzembi’s curious return home after six years in exile and his subsequent arrest by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption (Zacc).
Mzembi, who was Gushungo’s last Foreign Affairs minister before the cowardly coup by the Lacoste cabal, was Ngwena’s guest soon after arrival last Wednesday before his arrest three days later.
We are told that he enlisted Ngwena’s ally and war veteran Phillip Chabata to negotiate his return from Zambia where he has been holed after leaving South African under a cloud.
I cannot corroborate those claims because I left politics a long time ago and I have not been in touch with those so-called G40 kingpins.
What I am certain about though is that once again Lacoste’s claim that its government respects the rule of law will be tested in Mzembi’s case and we know how this will end.
Already familiar signs are there. Zacc was so efficient this time so much that Mzembi was swiftly taken to court.
If he had the misfortune of being an opposition activist or government critic, the Zacc detectives would have dragged their feet to produce him in court.
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Mzembi was considered a fugitive from justice.
In 2019, a warrant of arrest was issued for him after he skipped the country in the middle of his trial where he was accused of converting television sets belonging to the government to his own use.
The TV sets worth US$2 million had been bought for fan parks during the Fifa 2020 World Cup.
At some point the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) claimed that it was seeking Interpol’s help to secure Mzembi’s extradition from South Africa.
I am waiting to see whether his story does not mirror those of all those so-called G-40 former ministers, save for Petronella Kagonye and Samuel Udenge, who both served time following their arrests after the coup.
If Mzembi does not the Ignatius Chombo or Priscilla Mupfumira, which is the most likely scenario, I will eat my shoes.
Munopengaaaaaa
Speaking of our suspect justice system, one could not help, but shed a tear for Moses Mpofu and Mike Chimombe last week.
The duos, who have not known freedom since they offended the “son” a year ago, last week got a surprise from the NPA.
Prosecutor Whisper Mabhaudi suddenly withdrew charges against Chimombe and Mpofu in a case where they were accused of defrauding the City of Harare in a US$9 million tender to supply and install streetlights.
Mabhaudi, for the NPA, did not give reasons for withdrawing the charges before plea when the duo before the commencement of their trial at the High Court.
They remain on trial in a separate matter in which they are accused of defrauding the Ministry of Agriculture in a scheme to supply goats.
Munopengaaaaaaa
In a morbid repeat of Gushungo’s burial saga, our neighbours in the north are being treated to a tragi-comedy.
The family of former Zambian president Edgar Lungu claim that he left instructions that his successor Hakainde Hichilema “should be not anywhere near” his body.
Lungu, who died in South Africa last week aged 66, was locked in a bitter feud with his successor whom he accused of using law fare against him and his family.
Hichilema’s government had planned to fly Lungu’s body back home last Wednesday, but failed to do so because of a dispute with the former president’s family and his political party, the Patriotic Front over funeral and mourning arrangements.
Hichilema struck a conciliatory tone in his initial statement mourning Lungu where he urged Zambians “to put aside our differences” and “allow the people of Zambia to bid farewell to their former president with the respect and honour that befits the high office he once held.”
My advice to HH drawn from the Gushungo experience is to be the bigger person and allow the family to have its own way and bury their loved one in peace.
Fighting over the body of a former head of state is not dignified and tarnishes our image as Africans.
Stop it!
The ruling by the High Court outlawing some sections of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act, commonly referred to as the Patriotic Act, vindicated some of us that have been pointing out that democracy is in retreat under Ngwena.
In his short eight years in power, the Lacoste cabal leader has introduced some of the most draconian laws ever seen in Zimbabwe after the fall of the colonial regime.
He has actually shown that he is the one who was behind the repression that you witnessed under Gushungo where he served as his deputy, Justice and Security minister.
The Patriotic Act, which he signed into law in July 2023, contained broad provisions that infringed on the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association a criminal offence.
His cabal, which behaves as if it owns this country, said the law was meant to punish unpatriotic Zimbabweans.
I want to take off my Gucci hat to the judicial officers, who stood to be counted when it matters the most in defence of our hard won independence.
The ruling must give Zimbabweans to challenge other draconian legislation introduced by this administration such as the Private Voluntary Organisations Amendment Act and those broadcasting regulations that force us to pay exorbitant licence fees to DeadBC.
Enough is enough.
Munopengaaaaaaaa
Stop It!
Dr Amai Stop it! PhD (Fake)
