If you were having coffee with me, I would tell you that the days are summer and the nights are winter, hot days and cold nights, maybe I’ll offer you a chilled beverage of an intoxicating nature served with ice cream. Cheers
Whats the occasion you would ask; well today Sunday the 26th of August, the president-elect was inaugurated as the seventh leader of the second republic of Zimbabwe. I will confess though I dont know when Zimbabwe started being referred to as a second republic, its phrase I heard on TV and if anyone reading this post can shed light on that, I would be extremely grateful.
Finally the president has taken his oath of office, bringing an end to our highly contested electoral process from when we went to the polls on the 30th of July, followed by the election petition to the constitutional court by the runner up candidate Nelson Chamisa challenging the legitimacy of the elections and concluded by the Constitutional Court’s ruling on Friday the 24th of August.
If you were having coffee with me, I would tell that the 9 Judges of the Constitution Court sat on Wednesday the 22nd of August to listen to the application by Nelson Chamisa’s lawyers citing several irregularities resulting in the electoral process being stolen. The court proceedings were broadcasted live, an unprecedented move that saw everyone glued to their TV’s to see the wheels of the judiciary at work.
If you were having coffee with me, I will confess that being an avid fan of court drama TV shows such as Boston Legal, Suits, How To Get Away With Murder, I was expecting some sensational display of legal dexterity but real life court is dreary and lawyers and judges speak a language all of their own.
The first thing I wondered about and I am not alone in too, but why do the judges wear those wigs?????????? I vaguely recall something about it being supposed to symbolize having the grey hair of wisdom, but I think they look plain ridiculous especially in this hot weather, for a nation that wants to never be a colony again why do we still have customs adopted from the colonial era, what is up with those wigs.
I am no legal expert but I felt that the lawyers raised very interesting points which should have put the whole electoral process under scrutiny like how the electoral commission revised the figures after they had a declared the winner from winning by 50.8% to 50.6% and all sorts of discrepancies. The respondent’s lawyers also made their reponse and it seemed to me anyway they were less cross-examined by the panel of charges than the applicant’s lawyers but what do I know?
The judges final unanimous ruling was that the burden to provide sourced evidence was solely on the applicant and
the applicant has failed to place before it clear, sufficient, direct and credible evidence that the irregularities that he alleges marred the election process materially existed. The applicant did not prove the alleged irregularities as a matter of fact.
In the result, the following order is made –
(1) The application is dismissed with costs.
(2) Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa was duly elected President of the Republic of Zimbabwe.
(4) In terms of section 93(4)(a) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe EMMERSON DAMBUDZO MNANGAGWA is duly declared the winner of the Presidential election held on the 30th of July 2018.
If you were having coffee with me I would tell you I would have been very surprised if the court had ruled in any other way seeing as all nine judges ruled unanimously, the courts are supposed to be an impartial part of the system but in reality impartiality is an ideal.
I’ll just leave this here:
If you were having coffee with me and you asked me “What happens next?” Well, I would tell you that the election madness is hopefully over and life can begin again, we have been mostly on pause, waiting, hoping against hope, and now here we are, the highest court of the land has given its judgement the can be no further appeal, we are survivors, we have been through a lot and looks like we got more to go still, what we need to do is to look past our differences and find a way to work together.
Whats going on in your part of the world?
Have an awesome week
~B
Becoming The Muse 
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