Liberal Democrats

The Liberal Democrats of Zimbabwe was formed in 2015 from South Africa. It is a political party registered in terms of ZEC requirements in Zimbabwe. The party did not participate in the 2018 general election. In 2016 it petitioned the Zimbabwean Embassy in Pretoria over the spending of US$800,000 on Robert Mugabe's birthday when many Zimbabweans were starving. The Liberal Democrats have raised various issues about Zimbabwe including their claim that Mr Mugabe, the President of Zimbabwe and the ruling party ZANU PF in Zimbabwe was being abused and his rights as an elderly person being violated by those close to him who were using him for their personal gains. The Liberal Democrats of Zimbabwe appear to be following hard on the issue of individual rights as enshrined or shown in the website and evidenced by this claim on Mr Mugabe who is seen by many as the one violating their rights; yet they ironically contend his rights are being violated instead. In 2017 the Liberal Democrats of Zimbabwe raised a number of issues including the political state of affairs in Zimbabwe through its chairperson. The open letter appeared to be lamenting the inability to act by the Zimbabwean people and the lack of coherence in political activities. It made mention of the failures of many political parties including the major opposition parties like the MDCT which has always been seen as the contender to political office. The Liberal Democrats weighed in on the Zimbabwean appointment of the Chief Justice again coming in with views about how Mr Mugabe had been forced to appoint the Chief Justice who was not likely to have been his first choice due to the ZANU PF factional wars. Mr Mugabe at the end of March 2017 appointed Justice Luke Malaba as the Chief Justice replacing Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku who had been at the helm of the country of Zimbabwe's legal system for 17 years and was retiring as he had reached his retirement age, the age of 70 as per the Constitution of Zimbabwe.