Zimbabwe president accused of undermining democracy

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa is accused of promoting individual interests and undermining the independence of the judicial system, according to civil rights group Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC). 

The accusations come after President Mnangagwa pushed amendments through his cabinet designed to overhaul the constitution. The changes would seek to allow the president to directly appoint his deputies, the prosecutor general, and control the appointment of judges. 

Although the amendments have yet to pass through parliament, they are unlikely to be voted down as President Mnangagwa’s Zanu-PF party control two thirds of the house. 

The CiZC described the actions as seeking to “entrench the interests of individuals and dent the independence of an already captured judiciary”. 

Under the present constitution, adopted in 2013 as part of a power share between then-president Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, judges are selected through a process involving public interviews, while vice presidents are directly chosen by the electorate. This constitution was voted for by an overwhelming majority, in preference to the charter Zimbabwe received when the country achieved independence from Britain in 1980. 

Under the proposed amendments, vice presidents would no longer be elected but appointed by the president - a change which the Law Society of Zimbabwe has said would “remove the transparence and democratic process sought to be achieved by the constitution”. 

The suspicion is that President Mnangagwa is using the constitutional amendments to ward off potential challenges from one of his vice presidents, Constantino Chiwenga. Under the present system, Gen Chiwenga, who led the coup to topple Mugabe in 2017, would take over as president if Mnangagwa was impeached, a possibility the president said he was aware of in the run-up to the 2018 elections. 

There have been reports of a major falling out between the president and Gen Chiwenga over alleged attempts to sideline the former army commander, as well as a perceived lack of ethnic balance in the new government.

Photo credit: Reuters | Pilimon Bulawayo