ED lambasted over setting up of parallel structures

Zwnews Chief Correspondent

The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC) has castigated President Emmerson Mnangagwa over the creation of parallel structures, after he set up a commission of inquiry to look into the shooting of civilians by soldiers in Harare on 1 August 2018.

While many have been criticising Mnangagwa over the composition of the commission, which is composed of his well-known apologists, CiZC says the setting up of the commission was ill-advised, as there is a constitutional body available with the mandate to investigates such issues.

“We remain worried as to why the President is keen to create parallel structures, when the Constitution established constitutional bodies in Chapter 12 (Independent Commissions Supporting Democracy).

“We are of the strong conviction that the state must strengthen the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) to undertake work of this nature as provided for in the Constitution (section 243) (1),” says CiZC in a press statement.

The CiZC says Mnangagwa would have rather channelled resources to the ZHRC, and not waste funds on creating a parallel structure, that is duplication of roles. Be that as it may, many have also queried the President’s real intentions in setting up side structures instead of using existing ones mandated by the Supreme Law of the land.

CiZC believes the major motive behind the setting up of this commission is to sweep the issue under the carpet as in other previous matters, adding that some of the cases that have never been openly investigated include the Gukurahundi massacres.

Meanwhile, this is not the first time for Mnangagwa to set parallel structures, early this year he set up another structures under his nose (Office of the President and Cabinet) purportedly to take up and look into cases of corruption.

This move was again viewed by some analysts as duplication of roles, taking into account that the Constitution of Zimbabwe has the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission in place to investigate cases of that nature.