India’s ambassador to Zimbabwe, Rungsung Masakui has urged the opposition MDC party to respect the 2018 Constitutional Court ruling which upheld President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s victory in the election.
MDC president Nelson Chamisa rejected the Court’s ruling even though he was the one who brought the case before it.
In an interview with The Sunday Mail reporter, Sharon Munjenjema, Masakui said:
I find it [the political situation in Zimbabwe] very polarised. Political rivals are not enemies. If the ruling party and opposition party consider themselves enemies, that is a clear sign of going in the wrong direction. In India we just had elections.
The kind of words exchanged during debates was very intense, but once the elections are over, that’s it. The opposition party candidate lost and he accepted it and congratulated the incoming president.
Even before the election commission announced the results, he noticed and congratulated the winning party. But here it is totally different.
Yes, all political parties have the right to contest the results in a court of law, and this was done.
The Indian diplomat expressed dismay over the opposition MDC’s hypocrisy in rejecting the Presidential election result while accepting parliamentary and local authority elections. He added:
There is a provision in the constitution outlining how to address that dissatisfaction of the results and it was done.
But after going to the Constitutional Court, the court made its ruling in the full view of a global audience following the proceedings.
When the court makes its ruling, why can’t they just respect that? It is unthinkable that after the court makes a final ruling, the opposition party continues to fight the legitimacy issue again and again, yet they have accepted to work in Parliament.