THE Douglas Mwonzora-led MDC-T’s support for constitutional amendments in the Senate last week exposes the so-called opposition party’s lack of principles and its desperate quest to be part of the gravy train. The amendment will give President Emmerson Mnangagwa unfeltererd power to appoint the chief justice, deputy chief justice and judge president without subjecting them to public interviews. That Mnangagwa is pushing for these amendments even before most of the laws have been aligned to the 2013 Constitution is hardly surprising given his lust for unfettered power. It has been the hallmark of Zanu PF retreating to the era of the late former President Robert Mugabe of mutilating the Constitution as evidenced by the numerous  amendments to the previous one. What is shocking is the new lows to which the MDC-T has sunk in order to pick crumbs from the Zanu PF table, moreso after Mwonzora vociferously criticised the proposed amendments last year when he was in the real opposition camp. “The proposed constitutional amendments are designed to further constrict democratic space and concentrate power in the President. They are also designed to deal with Zanu PF’s succession conundrum. The concept of one centre of power at all levels is archaic,” Mwonzora declared last year before his infamous political somersault. He added: “We should never allow the planned mutilation of the people’s Constitution. Zimbabweans voted overwhelmingly for this Constitution. It represents an incremental gain in its democratisation agenda. Never again should we allow concentration of power in one man.” The volte face by Mwonzora in voting for the amendments has, as expected, been widely met with ridicule and disgust and makes his party’s claim that it is the biggest opposition party in the country laughable and farcical. That Mwonzora voted for amendments to clauses he fought for during the making of the 2013 Constitution has irreparably damaged his reputation both as a politician and a private individual. In his desperation for power and relevance, Mwonzora has in one fell swoop reduced himself from a respected politician and lawyer to a Zanu PF puppet at Mnangagwa’s beck and call. Although Mwonzora has vehemently denied that his party is a Zanu PF project, its actions concretises this assumption.

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