Zimbabwe Heading for Another Sham-Disputed Poll
The MDC’s Legal Secretary, David Coltart at the weekend swung heavy blows on the State media after the latter published various falsehoods pertaining the much talked about SADC summit.
The misleading stories initially alleged that Coltart himself had broken ranks with his boss Welshman Ncube on the SADC Maputo initiative which later at the weekend resulted in the MDC formations trampling ZANU PF by obtaining a favourable ruling from the regional body.
Coltart on Sunday openly scoffed at the ZANU PF controlled Sunday paper which falsely claims that SADC has upheld Robert Mugabe’s 31st July election date. Said Coltart: “the Sunday Mail today is simply hilarious “SADC upholds July 31st poll date”; what are these fellows smoking?” The previous day, Coltart thumbed as nonsense a report by the sister paper the Herald which alleged he had criticised his own bosses. The Herald article had been printed without lifting a single quotation of the alleged uttered words it claimed Coltart spoke during a Bulawayo Initiative meeting on Thursday saying that Coltart said that although SADC was the facilitator to the Global Political Agreement, the onus was on Zimbabweans to determine their destiny. It even stated that he verbalised saying that Robert Mugabe was acting according to law by sideswiping parliament and imposing an election date.
Below was Coltart’s his response following the Herald Saturday article:
“I see that the Herald is up to its usual nonsense of distorting what people say to suit their own ends.
“The following report seriously distorts what I said on Thursday evening at the Bulawayo Press Club. What I actually said is that it is embarrassing that we cannot resolve problems ourselves and that results in SADC having to intervene. I have never questioned SADC’s role in Zimbabwe and in fact welcome it. It goes without saying that I fully support the actions of Minister Welshman Ncube and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in attending the SADC summit and the lobbying of SADC leaders to help us get out of the hole created by the unlawful and unconstitutional actions of ZANU PF, perpetrated this week.
“What is correct in the article is the portion which states that the only way we as a Government can restore legality to the electoral process is by going back to our own Constitutional Court to seek a review of the original order.
“Anyone who knows me well knows how much I love Zimbabwe and it deeply concerns me when our Nation cannot sort out its own problems and has to resort to the international community for help. It is indeed a national disgrace that we place ourselves in this situation and as a result leave ourselves open to international ridicule and interference. Herald story