Animal Farm

  By Youngerson Matete and Edited by Prince Gora What would you say if, for example, I put it to you that politics and the church are the same and that they keep the people in ignorance? Since the beginning of slavery and colonialism, Africa has been seized by retrogressive ‘puppetization’ of partisan gospel ministers and churches. Additionally, there has been victimisation of those who dare to stand against political ills.  Consequently, the church and state relations have become compromised (Mujinga 2018:248) and most gospel ministers and citizens have been gripped with fear and silenced from partaking in political engagements.  Many religious leaders have since colonialism chosen to be on the side of the ruling elite to avoid persecution and to maintain or safeguard benefits which they have received from the ruling elite. However, there are some few religious leaders who have dared to stand up against oppression such as Ndabanhingi Sithole, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Bishop Abel Muzor

By Youngerson Matete  Qatar based international broadcaster Al Jazeera released a four-part damming expose documentary on Gold and money laundering in Southern Africa titled the “Gold Mafia”.  The documentary infiltrated rival gangs and exposed organized criminal networks operating in Southern Africa. From the documentary, it`s clear that the criminal syndicates work in cohorts with government officials to launder money and gold. Government officials, business crocks and “fake prophets” were filmed not only explaining how they launder gold and money but also how they have captured the government establishing a deep state controlled by a mafia.  World over, the concept of democracy can only work if there are strong and independent institutions, separation of powers and rule of law. Mafias make it difficult for democracy to function as they capture institutions which support democracy.  In this article, I will focus much on how the mafias operates and how their existence threatens democr

  By Youngerson Matete  On the 6th of April, 2023 the constitutional court of Zimbabwe granted the chamber application by Douglas Togarasei Mwonzora “for leave for direct access to the constitutional court.” The constitutional court claimed that Mwonzora’s delimitation challenge has merit and that it must be heard by a full bench.  This comes after the MDC T leader had petitioned the constitutional court in March this year challenging the delimitation processes which was conducted by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. Mwonzora is seeking an order to declare the delimitation report prepared by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and gazetted by the President on the 20th of February 2023 null and void on the grounds that it did not comply with the requirements of Section 161 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe. (Douglas T Mwonzora & Movement for Democratic Change t vs. Zimbabwe Electoral Commission & 3 others, CCZ /23) Mwonzora, in his application, is seeking relief for the first respo

By Youngerson Matete A s Zimbabwe gears up for elections, political parties have been selecting candidates who will represent them in the 2023 harmonized elections scheduled for August. ZANU-PF was the first to select its candidates through primary elections. On the 5 th of April, 2023 the main opposition party, the Citizen Coalition for Change (CCC) began its process of candidate selection to choose the persons who will represent the party in the 2023 harmonized elections slated for August this year as expected. The party will nominate candidates for President, members of parliament, councilors, youth and women’s proportional representation as well as the local government quota in a process the party claimed will be community based and citizen centric. The candidate selection processes will be led by a citizen’s candidate independent selection panel, a committee which was assembled by the party, comprised of leaders from the civil society, business, the church, labor and student

By Youngerson  Matete  On the 18th of November 2022, the government of Zimbabwe through the ministry of justice parliamentary and legal affairs gazetted the electoral reform bill (HB 11, 2022) which sought to amend certain sections of the Electoral Act (Chapter 2;13), (NO.25 of 2004). The Parliament of Zimbabwe went on to conduct public consultations as per the demands of the constitution. The consultations were done on the 30th and 31st of January, 2023 on radio and zoom platform. The consultations have since ignited a debate about electoral reforms ahead of the 2023 harmonized elections in Zimbabwe.  It is against this background that I seek to analyse the importance of the electoral reforms to both the government and the opposition. I also take time to analyse the electoral reform bill (HB 11, 2022) that is currently before the Parliament of Zimbabwe and the manner in which the consultations were done and its effects. After the 2018 harmonized elections, various local, regional and

Young people pausing for a picture after successful registering to vote There has been rumours that the 2023 elections in Zimbabwe can be postponed or will be held under the current boundaries. The conversation was ignited by the preliminary delimitation report that was released by ZEC which was a total disaster. The disastrous preliminary delimitation report led to many people speculating that maybe the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission was deliberate in coming up with a scandalous delimitation report to either necessitate the Postponement of Elections or to have Elections conducted using the current boundaries which were drawn in 2007/08. Either theory cannot be dismissed given the nature of the regime that we are dealing with. After all, there might be a formula to this madness. ZEC’s Failure to interpret the law On the 26th of December 2022, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission through its Chairperson, Justice Priscilla Chigumba released a scandalous preliminary delimitation report. What