ZimLegends Is Paying Mounting Homage To A Zimbabwean Legend |  Article By Tapfuma Machakaire 

Dr Alex Magaisa                                               

 

The name Dr Alex Magaisa, will indisputably go down in history as one of the most energetic and prolific legal, political and social commentators on issues affecting Zimbabwe and other developing nations, through the blog, The Big Saturday Read.

The blog, which Magaisa termed – cutting-edge analysis and critical insights into Zimbabwean law and politics, provided a weekly dose of well-informed   scrutiny of the unfolding pertinent issues in Zimbabwe. The credibility of Magaisa ’s work is supported by the fact that the articles were regularly featured by renowned Zimbabwean news outlets including The Standard, Daily News, Newzimbabwe.com and the Herald.

Magaisa was born on August 10, 1975 in Chikomba District in the Midlands province of Zimbabwe. He completed his high school education attending boarding school at St. Francis of Assisi High School in the Mashonaland East province. He then matriculated at the University of Zimbabwe, graduating in 1997 with a Bachelor of Laws degree.

He joined one of the prestigious law firms in Zimbabwe, Gill Godlonton & Gerrans Legal Practitioners as an Associate. In 1999, he went for further studies at University of Warwick in the United Kingdom where he graduated with a PHD in Law in 2003.

During his fellowship, Dr Magaisa wrote a handbook on citizens’ fundamental rights and freedoms under the new constitution, a project aimed at enhancing a culture of constitutionalism and democratic citizenship in Zimbabwe.

Magaisa worked as a regulatory enforcement manager for Jersey Financial Services Commission, the financial services regulator in Jersey until 2007. In September 2007, he joined the University of Kent Law School as a lecturer and researcher. His main areas of teaching and research were company law, intellectual property law and international financial regulation.

November 2011, Magaisa took a leave of absence from the University of Kent to take up a role as a core member of a team of technical experts advising the Constitution Parliamentary Committee (COPAC) which had been set up by the Parliament of Zimbabwe with to draft a new constitution, to repeal and replace the old Lancaster House Agreement Constitution.

The draft was overwhelmingly approved in a referendum held on 16 March 2013. In October 2012, Magaisa left his advisory work with COPAC when he was appointed by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to be his Chief Advisor in preparations for the 2013 elections. The MDC lost to ZANU PF by a wide margin in the disputed elections resulting in Magaisa and the MDC legal team filing a Constitutional Court petition seeking the nullification of results, arguing that the elections were not free and fair. ^[However, the petition was later withdrawn although the judges refused to recognize the withdrawal and insisted on hearing the matter.

Magaisa, however enhanced his reputation through his weekly column The Big Saturday Read, a no holds barred analysis mostly of political developments in Zimbabwe.

In his article of October 10, 2017, titled, Mugabe’s reshuffle: the crocodile is running out of water Magaisa observed that the obvious target of the reshuffle was Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his “faction Lacoste”. But as he had predicted in an earlier article “Mugabe was never going to fire Mnangagwa in this reshuffle – not directly anyway. The aim was to isolate him by whittling down his powers, sacking or demoting his allies and leaving him exposed.” He argued that the reshuffle was only ever going to be about succession. “The principal target was Mnangagwa and the appointments, demotions and removals have been designed with this in mind. It’s a clear demolition job. For Mnangagwa and Lacoste, the writing is clearly on the wall. The crocodile is running out of water. But it is a resilient species. It has survived where dinosaurs are long extinct. Maybe, and only just maybe, a small window still remains … maybe Lady Fortuna is still to come bearing gifts.” True to Magaisa’s prediction the “crocodile” resurfaced as President of Zimbabwe in November 2017.

On November 25, 2017 in the article, November drama, Magaisa made interesting observations on the timing of the inauguration of President Munangagwa following operation restore legacy, which reads in part: “In Zimbabwe, November is known as Mbudzi, the month of the goat. Traditionally, it is a sacred month. No rituals can be performed during the month of Mbudzi. No matter how big the event, tradition prescribes that the month of Mbudzi must be avoided. However urgent it might be, it has to wait. It is ironic that the most dramatic political transition in a generation chose the sacred month as one mighty figure fell by the wayside, while another rose to take the throne.”

Magaisa went on to spell out the new challenges faced by opposition political parties following the demise of Robert Mugabe, their arch enemy. He wrote, “With Mugabe now off the stage, the “Mugabe Must Go” slogan is gone too. With the 93-year old gone, the argument that ZANU PF is led by an old man has also lost traction. ZANU PF is experiencing a new verve that it last enjoyed in the eighties, after a victorious liberation war. It is the opposition that is now lumbered with accusations of failing to renew and embrace change. The fact that ZANU PF has undergone leadership change is now placing enormous pressure upon the opposition to also consider a similar path.”

Magaisa died on 5 June 2022, at Margate Hospital in the United Kingdom following a cardiac arrest. The death of Magaisa is a blow particularly to university students in various desciplines that include law, journalism and media studies, political science among others who were getting free weekly powerful lectures from the Big Saturday Read.

Ends.