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Zimbabwe: MDC Must Start to Work
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The Zimbabwe Guardian (London)
OPINION
3 April 2008
Posted to the web 3 April 2008
Levi Mhaka
WITH the latest results having been released giving the Opposition Bloc a simple majority of more than 106 seats out of the 210 possible House of Assembly seats, the main opposition party, MDC, must immediately deal with and deliberate on the following, while we are waiting for the presidential results.
There are a lot of challenges ahead and they must not be under any illusion that they easily overcome them. This is not the time to be factionally bickering. They need the various forces of democracy in the country.
The "change we can trust" must be exercised with a high level of precision, calm and dignity:
1. President of the Senate [Section 35 (1)], The President of the Senate shall be elected in accordance with Standing Orders from among persons who are or have been members of the Senate or the House of Assembly and who are not members of the Cabinet, Ministers or Deputy Ministers. If the person elected as President of the Senate is an elected member of the Senate, his/her will cease to become a Senator [Section 35 (2)].
Senate [Section 34], shall consist of 93 members, as follows:
60 constituent members elected from sixty senatorial constituencies10 Provincial Governors
2 shall be the President and the Deputy President of the Council of Chiefs
16 shall be Chiefs, being two Chiefs from each of the provinces, other than the metropolitan provinces of Harare and Bulawayo; and
5 shall be appointed by the President.
2. Speaker of the House of Assembly [Section 39 (1) and (2)], The Speaker shall be elected in accordance with Standing Orders from among persons who are or have been members of the House of Assembly and who are not members of the Cabinet, Ministers or Deputy Ministers. If the person elected as the Speaker of Parliament is an elected member of the House of Assembly, his/her will cease to remain so [Section 41 (1) (g)].
The House of Assembly (HA) [Section 38 (1)], shall consist of directly elected 210 members.
3. Clerk of Parliament [Section 48 (1)], there shall be a Clerk of Parliament appointed by the Committee on Standing Rules and Orders.
4. Decisions by the House of Assembly and Senate [Section 56], requires simple majority. Useless and punitive laws passed by the ZANU PF-controlled legislature since 1980 can now be reviewed for repeal or amendment.
ZANU PF and its leadership are delaying to release results because the assumption of Office by an elected President is provided for by Section 28 (5), which states that a person elected as President shall enter office by taking and subscribing before the Chief Justice or other judge of the Supreme Court or the High Court the oaths of loyalty and office, on the day upon which he is declared to be elected or no later than 48 hours thereafter.
We must take note that when ever there is change of guard, especially when the incumbent Establishment sees the newly elected one as hostile, handover of power has to be handled with care. There are a lot of guarantees and assurances, implicit and explicit, required for the incumbent political, bureaucratic and security establishments. The coming of MDC into power must not been in the context of drama, awe and shock. Unfortunately the Western media knows better but they are being agitative.
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Smith and the apartheid regimes received similar guarantees and assurances from the liberation movements. Delays in releasing the presidential results must be seen in that manner because the country has never witnessed what we are seeing in relation to a transfer of power. ZANU PF is in shock and real trouble, MDC must not worsen that shock!
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