Thabani Mpofu tears Tshabangu recalls apart
Advocate Thabani Mpofu, one of Zimbabwe’s most prominent lawyers, has ruthlessly torn asunder opposition political activist Sengezo Tshabangu’s case of recalling main opposition CCC MPs, senators and councillors, saying he has admitted that the grounds upon which he stood executing his mission were precariously shaky politically and legally to sustain his disruptive and undemocratic subversion of the people’s will.
Initially, Tshabangu said his mission was to “restore sanity” by addressing impositions of candidates in CCC, particularly Shona candidates in Bulawayo, a mainly Ndebele-speaking city.
However, Tshabangu went further than that recalling MPs everywhere without showing how they were imposed, raising questions about his underlying motives and political agenda.
Mpofu says Tshabangu had no locus standi and jurisdiction in the party where he claims to be an interim secretary-general to begin with, but also did not produced evidence to prove and support various allegations to justify his disruptive recalls.
He only succeed so far largely because the Speaker of Parliament and the High Court, in particular, misdirected themselves.
In his heads of argument in a Supreme Court appeal against a recent High Court judgement by Justice Munamato Mutevedzi dismissing 14 CCC MPs’ challenge against the recalls, Mpofu asks relevant and fundamental questions which were ignored by the Speaker of Parliament and Mutevedzi in enforcing the recalls by what the legislators have described as an impostor.
Mpofu says Tshabangu admits he he has no political standing to do what he did as he made the recalls as an individual to “restore sanity” in the party and to remove Shona people who were elected MPs in Bulawayo, a mainly Ndebele-speaking city.
*Mnangagwa given a 30 November ultimatum*
The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights has issued President Mnangagwa a 30 November ultimatum to appoint commissioners to the Independent Complaints Commission. Mnangagwa has dragged his feet for more than a year, depriving citizens of protection envisaged by the constitution.
The commission is mandated with receiving, investigating and providing remedies to complaints from aggrieved members of the public about the security services.
In a letter written to President Mnangagwa on behalf of Harare resident Nesbert Munyuki, lawyer Kossam Ncube protested that Mnangagwa has spent more than a year since enactment of the Independent Complaints Commission Act in October 2022, without appointing commissioners.