Ntabazinduna Chief Nhlanhlayamangwe Ndiweni has blasted Supreme Court judge Justice Chief Malaba’s ruling on the 2018 election results appeal by the MDC leader Nelson Chamisa.
The firebrand traditional leader, who recently torched a storm when he declared that the West must exert more sanctions on Zimbabwe after government evicted a white commercial farmer from his area.
Addressing the MDC congress in Gweru, Ndiweni castigated Supreme Court judge Justice Luke Malaba for his ruling against Chamisa claiming that his headmen pass better judgements.
Ndiweni called for “proper dialogue” and declared Chief Justice Luke Malaba’s judgment after last year’s electoral petition by Chamisa challenging the results of last year’s elections as a charade.
“Our country is going through a terrible, terrible time. Everything that can go wrong has gone wrong.
“We have a serious problem in our country. We have a problem of failure of democracy and when democracy fails everything fails,” said Chief Ndiweni.
In a thinly veiled attack on President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s legitimacy, Chief Ndiweni added: “Currently in our country we have a constitutional President and a popular president right here (in Gweru). We have not started yet. Things will get much worse.”
Chief Ndiweni called for dialogue and an honest arbitrator in an analogy about a boxing match in which a referee is required.
“This country needs a third person. We can’t have one boxer who wants to be both a player and referees. We need an arbitrator who is honest, someone who can judge fairly and give proper timelines.
“Any dialogue without these prerequisites is a waste of your time and my time. I know people will say Chief Justice Malaba made a ruling but my Headmen in Ntabazinduna every week give better judgments than that one,” said the traditional leader to rapturous applause.
“Our judiciary has failed this country. We are in this mess because our judiciary has let us down profoundly.”
Chief Ndiweni said the legitimacy issues around Mnangagwa’s leadership have resulted in investor confidence failing.
This he added will continue unless there is a genuine willingness to resolve the country’s political problems.
The traditional leader has also been in the news recently after demanding a more open and practical way of resolving the Gukurahundi issue.