Malawi Coffee

Passionate African committed to non-violent action and evidence informed advocacy

[Malawi Coffee @malawicoffee]

"Impunity has devastated the fabric of our society" @IrenePetras #ReconstructZim

[Doug Coltart ✊🏼🇿🇼 @DougColtart]

We give you the Baba Yilwa Dance Challenge! 💃😅🔥🙏

If God has protected you through tough times like he has for us at Mtetwa & Nyambirai these past two decades, why not take up #BabaYilwaChallenge by doing this fun easy dance to share some joy!!!

Thanks to @DJZinhle, @DJLACE_ , Thobani White, and FunkTone for giving the world this beautiful song!

[Lynette Karenyi-Kore @KarenyiKore]

We gave it our very best. History has been written.I stood with the people, remained true to my convictions, and fought a good fight for what I believe is right. While outcomes may differ, our commitment to democracy, accountability,&the voices of our citizens remains unwavering.

[Doug Coltart ✊🏼🇿🇼 @DougColtart]

If #CAB3 is really so popular as you say it is…

WHY ARE YOU SCARED OF A REFERENDUM?

Let the People have a say!

#NoToCAB3 #OneManOneVote

[Doug Coltart ✊🏼🇿🇼 @DougColtart]

What a powerful dismantling of #CAB3 by Ellen Shiriyedenga in Parliament today!! 👏👏👏👌 #NoToCAB3 #OneManOneVote

[Nyasha @NNyashaYessur]

Sonia arrested for stealing a phone, meanwhile ZRP still looking for this criminal for stealing a phone.

I guess it depends who's phone you have stolen.
@PoliceZimbabwe

[David Coltart @DavidColtart]

Thank you Southern Eye for the excellent article and important commentary on Glassblock Dam published today. We in the @CityofBulawayo look forward to this dam becoming a reality.

[Davis Laque @Laque_davis]

ZanuPF National Youth Assembly in pictures!
👀

[ZLHR @ZLHRLawyers]

CONSERVATIONISTS TAKE ACTION IN BID TO SAVE RAMSAR PROTECTED MONAVALE WETLAND

A CONSERVATIONIST group has asked a property developer to stop the planned construction of housing properties at Monavale Vlei, which is a protected wetland.

In a letter written to Bikita South constituency legislator Hon. Energy Mutodi, the Conservation Society of Monavale Trust (COSMO TRUST) protested that the ZANU PF political party parliamentarian had embarked on developing residential stands on behalf of Parliament and the Local Government and Public Works Ministry for Members of Parliament, in the Monavale wetland, particularly off Fenella Drive, Onslow Road and Sudbury Roads, north east of the Ramsar protected wetland site, which is managed by the conservationists.

The Monavale Vlei, which is a protected wetland in Harare, is a designated Ramsar site of global importance and a critical water source for the City of Harare (CoH) and developing the wetland could exacerbate Harare’s water crisis and violates local and international environmental laws.

@MonavaleVlei, which is represented by @TinasheChinox of @ZLHRLawyers, protested that the parcelling and development of residential stands in Monavale suburb was unlawful and illegal as there is no Environmental Impact Assessment Certificate issued by the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) in respect of the development of the land and that the development of residential stands in the Monavale wetland disrupts and destroys the wetland ecosystem thereby violating the Monavale residents and the conservationists’ right to have the environment protected and conserved for the benefit of future and present generations.

COSMO stated that residents of the Monavale Vlei area have a right to a safe and healthy environment and a right to the protection of the environment, which is guaranteed in terms of section 73 of the Constitution.

The conservationists demanded that Hon. Mutodi should within 24 hours of receipt of its letter stop all developments that are being carried out at his behest in the Monavale wetland and remove all the concrete pegs installed in the area.

COSMO warned that in the event that the legislator does not comply with its demand, it will immediately institute legal proceedings against him for an appropriate relief.

Apart from writing a letter of demand to Hon. Mutodi, COSMO also delivered another letter to City of Harare (CoH), asking the local authority to urgently advise it whether the relevant development permits were issued in respect of the planned housing project being spearheaded by the ZANU PF political party legislator and furnish it with the copies.

COSMO also dispatched a letter of demand to EMA requesting the environmental watchdog to exercise its powers in terms of section 10 of the Environmental Management Act and issue Environmental Protection Orders in relation to the intended housing development in the Monavale area, which is being spearheaded by Hon. Mutodi , the City of Harare, the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works and Parliament.

Furthermore, COSMO asked Parliament to confirm as to whether or not it is involved in the housing development in Monavale and that Hon. Mutodi is implementing the development on its behalf.

[Davis Laque @Laque_davis]

Making arrests over an "allegation" you're unwilling to make known.

Meanwhile, ZERO update on a man caught on camera stealing a phone exactly 49 days ago today?
A man, the public positively identified by name, height, complexion, place of residence & political affiliations? 🙆

[Malawi Coffee @malawicoffee]

Amazing who gets arrested for stealing phones these days - ex wives of the politically connected, but not zanu-pf thugs like Luckmore Gapa who were caught red handed in irrefutable video evidence… @PoliceZimbabwe is pathetic.

[ZimLive @zimlive]

📹 Wicknell Chivayo’s ex-wife Sonja Madzikanda says she has been arrested after he told police that she stole his phone and leaked a video “of him and a president that’s very compromising.” The video reportedly shows Chivayo meeting South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa (see screen grab in frame two) much earlier than their encounter at Pricabe Farm in Kwekwe a fortnight ago. The video would be highly damaging to Ramaphosa, whose office insisted he was seeing Chivayo for the first time during his visit to President Mnangagwa’s farm

[World Vision Zimbabwe @WorldVisionZim]

We are hiring!

https://t.co/eCvAOgTJrO

[Doug Coltart ✊🏼🇿🇼 @DougColtart]

WHY CAB3 takes away One Man One Vote

by Doug Coltart

Constitutional Amendment Bill No. 3 is a brazen attempt to reverse the gains of the liberation struggle and entrench a system of Minority Rule.

In this article, and in the links attached, I am going to explain why.

Now, because I have seen many mischaracterisations of my argument, I must state from the outset that my argument is not that an indirect system of election is inherently undemocratic, but rather that the specific system created by #CAB3 is inherently undemocractic.

This is because it takes away the people's right to vote for the President and gives it to an undemocratic and unaccountable Parliament while simultanoesly creating an unaccountable President vested with vast unchecked powers. We need to understand CAB3 as a unified scheme, whose clauses operate together to take away #OneManOneVote.

It does so in several ways:

1. It increases the President's control over ELECTIONS through taking key electoral functions (voter registration and delimitation) away from ZEC (which, although its execution has not always been up to scratch at least has legal safeguards) and gives them to two bodies appointed by the President (Registrar General and new Delimitation Commission). Rather than addressing the problem of disputed elections and ZEC's lack of independence, it exacerbates the proplem. Using the tools of gerrymandering, a non-independent Delimitation Commission could entrench Minority Rule through the manner in which constituency boundaries are drawn. It already began under ZEC in 2023, but clearly ZEC did not go far enough for the liking of some and so they want to move delimitation to an even less independent body. This means that the Members of Parliament who will be electing the President will NOT have been elected through a democratic process and may well representa a MINORITY of the population.
For more: https://t.co/oT1odAFyl5.

2. It creates a Presidential electoral system that is institutionally vulnerable to capture by kleptocrats whereby someone who has ZERO mandate from the people (is not voted for by the people), who has NEVER been put to the people (is not required to be nominated at the time of going to the Parliamentary election), and may even have been REJECTED by the people (not required to be an MP), could become the President if they convince just 186 Members of Parliament to vote for them (a simple majority of a joint sitting of Parliament). In a political context where those with vast (unexplained) wealth flaunt their influence over State institutions (including brazenly defying the directives of State-institutions e.g. Wicknell "selling" vehicles for $100 in defiance of ZimPaper's directive to its employees), it is not far fetched to say that the Presidentcy may be for sale to the highest bidder. And CAB3 even builds in a monitoring and evaluation mechanism for the kleptocrat who wishes to buy state power: because the vote for the President is NOT required to be by secret ballot (like it is for the Speaker of Parliament) and so the kleptocrat who has bought 186 MPs can actually monitor whether they deliver on what they have been paid to do. Most worryingly of all, it opens the door even to foreign oligarchs or state's to buy a pre-paid President to deliver Zimbabwe's natural resources to them. For more: https://t.co/qGNOzfSt2M

3. It makes Parliament undemocratic by packing the upper house of Parliament (the Senate) with Presidential appointees, increasing the Executive's influence over the Legislature and ensuring that the ruling party would only need 30% of the vote to retain control.

It does so in two ways:

(a) Firstly, it gives the President unfettered power to appoint an additional 10 Senators who are completely unelected. These Senators have ZERO democratic mandate, because they derive their legitimacy from a President who in turn derives his or her legitimacy from the very Parliament they are being appointed to - this circular arragement is absurd! This clause is simply a backdoor to smuggle into Parliament people who were rejected by the people in their party (such as Ziyambi Ziyambi in 2023) or rejected by their constitutents (such as Mthuli Ncube in 2023).

(b) Secondly, by stipping traditional leaders of the requirement that they must be non-partisan not only creates an untenable position for their role as quasi-judicial officers in communities, but it also strips them of the proptection that the requirement provided for them to represent their communities interests in the Senate (rather than the interests of their appointing authority, the President). Without that protection, the 18 Chiefs in the Senate essentially become political functionaries of the President.

This means that the President would have undue influence over 28 out of 90 Senators, before even a single vote is cast. This means that the President's party only needs to win 18 seats of the Senate's 60 democratically elected seats to gain control of the Senate. These 60 seats in the Senate are elected via proportional representation based on the vote cast for the National Assembly seats. To get those 18 PR Senate seats they need to control the Senate, ZANU PF would only need about 30% of the vote cast for National Assembly MPs.

Now, when you combine that with the President's control over the voters roll and delimitation (see point 1), this means that the President's party could retain control of Parliament as a whole (and then by extention the whole of the Executive, and the Judiciary, and the entire State) with a mere 30% of the vote cast at an election.

4. How would they secure control over the Judiciary too? Well, CAB3 answers that too: it gives the President unfettered power to appoint judges. It removes the requirement that the public, you and me, must be involved in the appointment of judges - through public nominations and public interviews and a closed list from the JSC from which the President must choose judges. Instead, it gives all the power to to appoint judges to all-powerful President NOT elected by the people, but by an UNDEMOCRATIC Parliament. This strikes are the core of judicial independence!

5. Scariest of all, is that we may never even have another election again! Why do I say so? Because Parliament has no power to extend its own mandate -- and the Constitution explictly says so -- yet, through CAB3, Parliament is attempting to extend its own mandate from 5 years to 7 years (as well as the mandate of the President and Councilors). The Constitution says incumbants can't benefit from such an extention and that if you want to change that rule it must go to a referendum, but Parliament is attempting to deprive the people from having a say through a referendum using an "ouster clause" which effectively says "We know the Constitution says we can't do this, but we are gonna do it anyway". If they get away with that, what will stop them from extending their own mandate (again) in 2030 without going back to the people (again)? What will stop them from never coming back to the people ever again?

Therefore, when taken together, CAB3 creates a system of Minority Rule and is a complete reversal of #OneManOneVote. It strikes at the very core of the ideals of the liberation struggle and it takes us back to a system of governance in which an economic elite hold all the power and wealth to the exclusion of the vast majority of citizens.

Our current system far from perfect. We are already deep in a hole of bad governance. But rather than being a ladder (providing solutions to get out of the hole we are in), CAB3 is a jackhammer (taking us even deeper into the depths of bad governance when we thought we had already hit rock bottom)!

Zimbabweans must come together from all walks of life to say NO and to cast a VISION of a Zimbabwe in which we ALL have a say, in which we ALL have opportunity, in which we ALL can pursue a better life. Whether you are old or young, a supporter of ZANU PF or the opposition, from urban areas or rural areas, black or white or Shona or Ndebele (or any other ethnic group), we all need to come together for the sake of our nation and for our children's future. Churches need to find their courage, trade unions need to tap into their organising capacity, civil society needs to find its voice. And we, the people of Zimbabwe, need to use our Constitution to defend our Constitution; we need to use our rights to defend our rights.

There is HOPE! Our Constitution provides us with all the tools to defend it -- principally, section 59. We must just find the courage to do so.

And the God of justice still sits on the throne! He sees, he knows, he'll judge. He will still be on the throne whether we defeat CAB3 or not. And the duty to continue fighting for justice will continue whether we defeat CAB3 or not.

God is working out his purposes throughout history -- through people who are willing to listen, and to follow him, to pursue his path of peace, justice and righteousness, no matter the cost.

May God give us courage and guidance.

#NoToCAB3 #NoTo2030 #ZimSaysNo
YES to PEACE! YES to JUSTICE! YES to RESPECT for the PEOPLE!

[Doug Coltart ✊🏼🇿🇼 @DougColtart]

We successfully submitted our letters to @ParliamentZim objecting to #CAB3. If you haven’t yet, you still can at [email protected] or at the Parliament Building before 18 May 2026. I will post my full letter below. #NoToCAB3

[Doug Coltart ✊🏼🇿🇼 @DougColtart]

Many people say to me “Only God’s intervention can defeat #CAB3”. I agree but we must add that God works THROUGH PEOPLE who courageously (1) SPEAK truth to power and (2) take ACTION to resist evil. This statement by the Catholic Bishops is a powerful example of the first part… Will we find the courage for follow God’s call into the second part? #NoToCAB3

[Doug Coltart ✊🏼🇿🇼 @DougColtart]

Why CAB3 takes away "One Man One Vote" through Delimitation

This is the first of a series of videos explaining why I believe the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment Bill No. 3 (#CAB3) is a threat to democracy and a negation of the liberation struggle ideal "One Man One Vote" -- and what we can do about it!

FULL VIDEO HERE: https://t.co/dKItp8o15m

This video focuses on the proposed changes to DELIMITATION (the drawing of constituency boundaries) and how those changes may allow ZANU PF to "legally" retain power even if the vast majority of voters reject them at an election.

This is just ONE of the many reasons to write to Parliament to demand the total withdrawal/rejection of the Bill by our MPs when its introduced to Parliament next week.

Stay tuned for future videos....

You can download the two key documents referred to here:

Constitution of Zimbabwe: https://t.co/bofsE3IeLu

Constitutional Amendment Bill No. 3: https://t.co/KVecHj3R9a

#NoToCAB3 #NoTo2030 #OneManOneVote #ZimSaysNo

[Doug Coltart ✊🏼🇿🇼 @DougColtart]

This is an aspect of #CAB3 that I haven’t seen widely discussed but one which I think is extremely dangerous. Please give it a watch and let me know your thoughts. And don’t forget to send your submissions to Parliament this week! #NoToCAB3 @daddyhope @freemanchari @TrevorNcube @LynneStactia

[Monavale Wetland #SaveMonavaleVlei @MonavaleWetland]

Monavale Wetland standoff exposes clash between Harare’s growth and its fragile ecological future — @climatenewsrom

#SaveMonavaleVlei #WetlandsMatter

https://t.co/jad0w8gXZl

[Monavale Wetland #SaveMonavaleVlei @MonavaleWetland]

One of the MPs implicated in the invasion of @MonavaleWetland Ramsar Site is Energy Mutodi, MP for Bikita South. He’s been seen on the site on multiple occasions and confirmed he’s a beneficiary. Others implicated are still being verified. FOLLOW FOR UPDATES! #SaveMonavaleVlei

[Monavale Wetland #SaveMonavaleVlei @MonavaleWetland]

Just a few hours after @TMuguti saying that all development on #MonavaleWetland would be halted, surveyors were back and placing pegs in the ground. Brazen impunity! @RamsarConv @EMAeep @cityofharare2 @birdlifezim

[Doug Coltart ✊🏼🇿🇼 @DougColtart]

Part 3

THE THINGS THAT MAKE FOR PEACE: A HOLY WEEK REFLECTION ON ZIMBABWE’S VIOLENT CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT BILL NO. 3 PUBLIC HEARINGS

by Doug Coltart