The running mate clause was one of the sticking points
among a myriad of other clauses which nearly derailed the Constitution-making
process as Zanu PF was bitterly opposed it. However, it grudgingly conceded to
have the Constitution passed in a referendum.
The ruling party then tabled the Constitutional Amendment
Bill No 2 with 27 amendments, among them the scrapping of the running mate
clause, which has already sailed through the lower House on a 191 to 22
majority.
But Charamba said the ruling party presented a decoy to MDC
formations to allow the constitutional work to progress while knowing very well
that it would get a parliamentary majority to amend it before it was
operationalised.
“… ensuring that the running mate clause would be held in
abeyance long enough for a return to it,” Charamba tweeted on Wednesday.
“In a master stroke, Zanu PF agreed to this contentious
clause on proviso that it would be held in abeyance for 10 years. It now
appears the opposition, clearly out of depth as always, thought Zanu PF had
given in to their law-making whim.”
He added: “It never occurred to them Zanu PF merely
conceded without ceding an inch of strategic ground. The running mate clause
was unacceptable to Zanu PF both on grounds of principle and because of unsavoury
experiences of the same.”
The Constitutional Amendment Bill No 2 has been criticised
for trying to consolidate the president’s power.
But Charamba said: “I point this out to expose the fallacy
which is being touted by easy journalists and commentators that the current
President is responsible for scrapping of the running mate in order to
consolidate his hold on power and to block Vice-President Chiwenga in Zanu PF
succession matrix.
“Of course, I am charmed to note that these commentators in
that false reasoning admit that the future belongs to Zanu PF. On that aspect
alone, they are very right!”
In an interview yesterday, Charamba said Mnangagwa was not
the one who co-ordinated for the amendment of the running mate clause, but it
was the Zanu PF party members.
“What the current President is doing is merely
accomplishing Zanu PF’s will which was agreed on, under the then late President
Robert Mugabe’s leadership,” he said.
However, the Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZimRights)
in statement said it was devastated by the tragic betrayal of the people of
Zimbabwe by elected representatives whose primary duty is to defend the
Constitution.
ZimRights national director Dzikamai Bere said the 191 MPs
who voted for the Bill had betrayed the people of Zimbabwe. “Amendment Bill
Number 2 is the single deadliest blow to our constitutionalism so far,” he
said.
It is a tragedy that the people who claim to represent the
people of Zimbabwe are acting with impunity against the very people they
purport to represent. I hope the people will punish them for this treasonous
act.”
ZimRights and other civil society organisations have
described the Amendment Bill Number 2 as an affront to democracy.
ZimRights national chairperson Takesure Musiiwa said: “As
ZimRights, we are against the attempt to push back into the Constitution what the
people had rejected during the Constitution-making process.”
During public hearings held by Parliament, thousands of
ZimRights members participated in the physical and virtual public meetings and
spoke out against the amendment. Newsday
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