The newspaper accused him of giving the PM “wrong legal advice” in an elections-related case that was before the High Court.
President Robert Mugabe on Friday won his appeal in the High Court where he was challenging an order to call for by-elections, which was granted in favour of three former parliamentarians, whose seats fell vacant when they were expelled from their MDC-N party in 2009.
Mugabe had said there was no time and resources to hold separate by-elections this year, but expressed an intention to hold harmonized elections by June 29th.
It was at this point that Prime Minister Tsvangirai made an application as a fourth respondent to stop the President from calling harmonized elections by June 29th. The PM said this date meant there was little time for the implementation of reforms stipulated by the Global Political Agreement (GPA).
This resulted in the Attorney General’s office amending papers to remove the issue of harmonized elections, at which time the PM formally withdrew his application since the President indicated in court he was now only going to seek to be excused from calling for by-elections.
However, Tsvangirai’s withdrawal from the court case was seen as a victory for Mugabe, with the state media insisting that the PM had no role to play in the by-elections. The media took aim at Magaisa as Tsvangirai’s political adviser, and said he should have advised the Prime Minister accordingly.
Analysts accused Magaisa and other legal advisors of operating to “please their master” and working for the sole purpose of making money through the PM’s office.
“Maybe this was just a political decision to gain relevance and it has backfired on them spectacularly,” a Herald analyst said.
Magaisa said the Herald report is motivated by malice. He explained: “The fact of the matter is that contrary to the information that has been disseminated through some quarters, the intervention by the Prime Minister in the case produced a positive outcome and therefore is a victory for good sense and democracy.”
“The idea is that if harmonised elections are due to be held soon after the by-elections, the latter exercise would be a waste of resources. Therefore, it would make practical sense to ‘combine’ the two elections by simply holding the harmonised elections and thereby avoiding the exercise of the by-elections,” said Magaisa in a statement.
The MDC formations had recently agreed with ZANU PF to make “transitional changes” to the constitution to ensure that the President Mugabe complies with the GPA, in that he should consult with his partners in government before announcing the election date.
Magaisa confirmed there is this general understanding and ‘convergence’ between the principals on this issue. But he said as the March 31st court deadline for the President to set dates for the by-elections approached, as had been instructed by the High Court, the Prime Minister made it clear that the issue of by-elections should be dealt with separately from the harmonised elections and that it should not be used to rush the country into polls without consultations between the principals.
“Out of abundance of caution and to be sure, the Prime Minister sought written confirmation of this changed position from the AG,” Magaisa said in a statement.
Tsvangirai’s adviser said the PM correctly exercised his right to prevent the circumvention through judicial process of the general understanding that the setting of dates for harmonised elections is a matter of consultation between the principals of the GPA.
“If he had not intervened, in all likelihood the President would have pursued right to the end the application in its original form. This is what the Prime Minister thwarted and appears to have irked some people,” Magaisa said. – SW Radio Africa News
Post published in: News