By Own Correspondent- Legislators here have called on President Emmerson Mnangagwa to avail details regarding why the armed forces were deployed in the country considering that their actions are impacting negatively on the image of the country globally.
Innocent Gonese, the MDC Parliamentary Chief Whip said members of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces had no capacity to implement policing activities hence the current scenario where they continued violating citizens’ rights and projecting the country negatively globally.
Said Gonese:
“In terms of Section 119, it is very clear that this august institution is given the responsibility to ensure that the provisions of our Constitution are upheld. It is also incumbent upon us as the duly elected representatives, the voice of the voiceless, to ensure that all agencies and all institutions of Government abide by the provisions of the Constitution and for reasons which I am going to adumbrate, it is very clear that there have been some very gravy violations of the provisions of our Constitution and in this regard Madam Speaker, I also want to make reference to the provisions of Section 213 and 214 of our Constitution…… Zimbabwe is under the spotlight and I am talking about violations of the Constitution.
The Leader of the House is very aware and cognisant of the issues that I am going to mention. In terms of Section 213 on deployment of Defence Forces, yes there is a provision which allows for that deployment but there is the political accountability which is clearly set out in terms of our Constitution. In terms of that political accountability, it was incumbent upon the Head of State to cause Parliament to be informed promptly. The deployment of Defence Forces, if it happened on the instructions of the Head of State; it took place on the 14th of January 2019 and the Head of State is enjoined by the provisions of Section 214 to promptly inform Parliament. Parliament should have been called, for the Head of State to give us appropriate details of the reasons for the deployment of the armed forces. It is very important Madam Speaker.
I have already said Zimbabwe is getting negative publicity. Zimbabwe is on the spotlight because of the activities of members of the Defence Forces who do not have any responsibility to carry out policing duties. As a result it was critical for us as representatives of the people to be informed and an appropriate detail of why the Defence Forces had to be deployed. That has not happened. As an institution, we must act collectively.