AFRICAN EYE

While Zimbabweans battle coming to terms with the seemingly false news yet true reality of the new Amendment bill, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has slid into a constitutional crisis. The crisis in the country located in central sub-Saharan Africa, started in December 2016 when President Joseph Kabila’s mandate officially and up to this day there are still no signs of an upcoming vote. The current regime led by Joseph Kabila have a sober understanding of the ground rules and is using the crisis to tighten its grip on power. December 19, 2016 should have been his last day in office as president in the country’s first democratic transition since independence in 1960.Kabila won the Presidency in 2001, secured a mandate in 2006 and then romped to victory in the 2011 elections that were described by many as fraudulent. This is partly because the elections failed to pass the democratic test as enunciated in the Congolese law and by various African Union (AU) instruments such as th

I wish to add my thoughts to the ongoing debate on the intentions of President Mugabe youth interface meetings that are currently ongoing across the country. This is one of the most debated issues among political parties today with some opposition parties crying foul alleging that state resources are being used to campaign for ZANU PF ahead of the 2018 elections. In this conversation, I will not try to probe whether its noble for the President to do such a thing but rather on why youths are a key constituency as 2018 elections loom. The Youths interface meetings were also necessitated on the need to capture new voters who seem reluctant to participate in electoral processes. At these meetings his message has been one of rallying this important group to vote for ZANU PF resoundingly in the 2018 elections. What’s rather suspicious is why the interface meetings are specifically targeting youths and not women or men given that in past election campaigns, he has combined his rallies to addr