3.1.1 Harare
It was good news for Civil Society Organisations following the High Court ruling which
nullified Harare Provincial Development Coordinator, Tafadzwa Muguti's decision to ban
some non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) after they defied submitting their work
plans as he had directed them to do.
In an urgent chamber application filed on 3 August, Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum
and Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition Trust, both coalitions of NGOs argued the directive was
unconstitutional as Muguti has no mandate dealing with NGOs.
Muguti, Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Harare Metropolitan
Province, Local Government, Home Affairs, Public Service ministers were all cited as
respondents. In its ruling handed down on 17 September , the High Court said the
applicants had proved a prima facie case establishing that their constitutional rights had
been violated by Muguti's directive.
In a disturbing development, a Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) leaked memo,
revealed that the supposedly independent body was waiting for instructions from
unnamed authorities for it to include the main opposition, MDC Alliance, in the
commission’s consultative processes for stakeholders.
ZEC spokesperson Commissioner Joyce Kazembe confirmed to NewsDay that the MDC
Alliance was not invited to the critical meetings because the matter over the ownership of
the name MDC Alliance was still to be resolved at the courts.
“We did not extend our invitation to MDC Alliance to be part of a stakeholder meeting
because the matter regarding the name MDC Alliance is still before the courts,” she told
NewsDay.
Ironically, there is no legal wrangle before the courts over the MDC Alliance name.
Following the leaked memo, a youth leader in the MDC Alliance Denford Ngadziore who
had gone to attempt to attend the ZEC meeting, and nine journalists who were covering
the event, were arrested on 30 September.
This shows the extent to which there is collusion between the state and the ruling Zanu PF,
whose leadership has openly declared they ‘own’ every institution in the country.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa is on record bragging about how the party owns the
police, the Commissions, the army and virtually every institution.
Meanwhile, Zanu PF’s chairperson for Harare province Godwills Masimirembwa had a chair
thrown at him during preparations for chaotic district elections held on 24 September
court heard.
Masimirembwa’s deputy Godwin Gomwe appeared in court charged with assault over the
incident.
Gomwe allegedly accused Masimirembwa of creating fictitious party districts to facilitate
the rigging of internal elections in favour of Harare’s minister of state, Oliver Chidau, in
forthcoming Zanu PF provincial elections.
Gomwe is alleged to have shouted: ”Ndirikuda kukum*m*sa Masimirembwa. Urikuda
kuriga maelections uchiitira Chidau kuti aite chairman. Ndoda kukuputitsa zidumbu iroro (I
will pummel you Masimirembwa. You want to rig elections for Chidau so that he becomes
chairman. I will pop that large belly).”