Ray Nkosi | Leading constitutional lawyer Dr Lovemore Madhuku has come out to express concern at the “illegal” ousting of former President Robert Mugabe by the army led by General Constantino Chiwenga.

Mugabe was ousted from power last November with his deputy Emmerson Mnangagwa taking over from him.

Madhuku is quoted in the local Daily News making a presentation at a meeting organised by the Southern African Political and Economic Series (Sapes) Trust dubbed, Zimbabwe’s Constitutional Coup Crisis: The Way Forward, “I think the debate about a coup or no coup is mixing issues, it’s, do you like the coup or you do not like the coup.

“I mean this nonsensical debate whether there was a coup or no coup, I think it’s a completely, I would use the word nonsensical, in the sense that there was a coup from a legal perspective, whatever the meaning there was.”

He said even though the word coup does not exist in the Constitution, words like unlawful or unconstitutional or contrary to the Constitution are used instead.

He said the aspect of putting pressure on a sitting president, with a view of pushing him out is described as a coup.

He said even if 100 million people say an elected president must go, if that pressure is put and the president feels threatened, that would amount to a coup as the only lawful process to remove a president is through an election.

“The moment that he claims that his resignation was not voluntary, if he says that, then you investigate if it was voluntary or not and if you find that it was not voluntary, then clearly it will be difficult to sustain a situation where you say it was in accordance with the Constitution.”

He further said in terms of the Constitution, the president alone is the one equipped with the power to deploy the army into the streets, which was not the case during last year’s army intervention.

Madhuku further said the events of November 15, 2018, can be defended politically but not legally.

“In the legal environment, with the precedent that has been set, the army will do it at any other time and that they will not be targeting Mugabe’s party now, I think they will be targeting another person or another leader.

“We have had countries that have gone through this, until one country that used to say a coup happens, as long as it succeeds its fine, then they found there were more and more coups and decided for a coup to be valid, it must be approved by the courts.