SEVEN Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) commissioners, who reportedly refused to append their signatures to the electoral body’s preliminary delimitation report presented to President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Parliament recently, have purportedly been “banished” by the electoral body chairperson, Justice Priscilla Chigumba.
The “rebellious” seven — Rosewita Murutare, Kudzai Shava,
Jane Mbetu-Nzvenga, Shepherd Manhivi, Abigail Mohadi, Jasper Mangwana and
Catherine Mpofu — wrote to Mnangagwa and Parliament accusing Chigumba and her
deputy, Rodney Simukai Kiwa of unilaterally imposing the draft delimitation
report on the electoral body, resulting in them disowning the whole process.
Their letter, attached to a Constitutional Court challenge
by Tonderai Chidawa in which Parliament is a respondent, partly reads:
“Recognising the need to guarantee the integrity of the delimitation process
through non-deviation from considerations that are laid out under section
161(6) of the Constitution; further recognising that the 2023 harmonised
elections should be conducted in the next few months, and the need for the
Constitution to create a voters roll that resonates with the new boundaries,
this is impossible with the remaining time; concerned that the current draft
delimitation proposal does not meet the minimum standards expected regarding
transparent procedures that strengthen stakeholders’ confidence and dispel
potential gerrymandering allegations; and further concerned that the current
draft delimitation proposal is not people-centred and not in an understandable
format. We hereby resolve to: Put aside the current draft delimitation proposal
except as a reference point for a proper delimitation process to be conducted
and wholly guided by the Commissioners after the 2023 harmonised elections.”
The Parliamentary Ad Hoc Committee on the Analysis of the
Zec 2022 Preliminary Report on Delimitation Exercise identified several
inconsistencies and irregularities that the commission should address before
presenting the final delimitation report.
Sources say the seven commissioners had hoped that
Mnangagwa and Parliament would reject the report in its entirety without making
any recommendations which would have a serious negative indictment on Chigumba
and her deputy.
However, this did not happen after both the President and
Parliament instead made some recommendations: A green light for her to rework
the controversial draft delimitation report which has also been roundly
criticised by both ordinary Zimbabweans and constitutional experts.
Chigumba, who has been nicknamed the Iron Lady by staffers
at the electoral body, is said to be unperturbed by the failed palace coup by
the seven commissioners and has reportedly turned the swords against them.
“Chigumba is well versed in the process since she is a
judge. She was not disturbed by their move to discredit her. Commissioners such
as Manhivi, who is a registered legal practitioner with a law degree, and holds
other two additional degrees in administration and international relations; and
Mpofu, who is a language, communications specialist and peace practitioner and
have experience working with the public, media and civil society from the
legislative arm of the State, should be taking a leading role in the report,
but have not been consulted,” a source said.
Other commissioners, Mangwana, who is an IT specialist,
Mbetu-Nzvenga a psychologist, Marutare a social scientist and Shava a
disability specialist, would naturally have a peripheral role in the
delimitation report.
“It’s not happening, they are just redundant now,” the
source added.
Mangwana said his hands were tied to comment on the issue.
“Please talk to Zec chief executive officer Utloile
Silaigwana,” he said.
Silaigwana asked NewsDay to send questions in writing, but
he had not responded to them by the time of going to print.
Chigumba is now said to be relying more on the Zec
secretariat to finish the recommendations within the timeframe provided by the
Constitution.
Recently, Chigumba revealed that she summoned Zec
provincial and district officers to work 12-hour shifts in a bid to satisfy
Mnangagwa and Parliament’s recommendations.
“I have just received this report from His Excellency, the
President, in terms of the Constitution which entitles him to raise some
concerns with the preliminary delimitation report and to forward his concerns
to Zec. His concerns have been duly received and at the moment, we have
convened all the district election officers and provincial election officers in
Harare. Over the weekend, they were working on the report from the ad-hoc
committee from Parliament,” Chigumba said last week Monday after receiving recommendations
from Mnangagwa.
“I am sure tonight they will be working in 12-hour shifts
on the report from His Excellency, the President. We are working urgently
because time is of the essence. We were supposed to work on the final
delimitation report to be gazetted by the President before a certain date for
us to use these boundaries for the 2023 harmonised elections. What we expect is
that sometime next week, we will have a draft ready which will be the privilege
of the President to review before we print a final report which he will then
gazette at his convenience,” she added.
Constitutional law expert and Political Actors Dialogue
(Polad) chairperson Lovemore Madhuku last week addressed a Press conference as
the Polad Governance and Legislative Agenda committee chairperson, where he
said the squabbles characterising the internal governance of Zec were of
concern.
“Zec is a corporate body consisting of nine commissioners.
Under no circumstances may Zec operate or purport to work without the
collective position of all commissioners. The delimitation process cannot be
the work of one or two commissioners. There must be evidence that all
commissioners are involved at every stage of the delimitation report,” Madhuku
said.
Legal and constitutional think-tank Veritas says even if
section 161(9) of the Constitution stipulates that once the preliminary report
has been referred back to Zec for further consideration of any matter, this
does not mean that the electoral body should disregard the Constitution.
“Zec’s decisions are final and conclusive in matters where
Zec can exercise a discretion — for instance to draw a boundary in order to
take account of particular physical features or to reflect community of
interest between voters — but in matters of constitutionality, Zec has no
discretion: The final delimitation report must comply with the Constitution.
Hence if Parliament correctly points out that Zec has used an unconstitutional
formula to calculate differences in voter numbers between constituencies and wards,
Zec must correct its mistake. It has no discretion in the matter,” Veritas
said.
It also said once Zec has made the necessary corrections to
its report, it should submit a final report to Mnangagwa as soon as possible
(section 161(10) of the Constitution), and the President should publish the
final report in the Gazette within 14 days (section 161(11)).
“We observed in previous bulletins that Zec’s disregard of
the correct formula for calculating differences in voter numbers means that
many constituencies and wards in the preliminary report are above and below the
20% limits,” Veritas said.
“Correcting these errors will entail substantially revising
the report. And Zec will also have to look at the other points raised by
Parliament’s ad hoc committee: the
failure to consult chiefs, for example, and lack of clarity in the maps. All
this will take time, and the time available is short. We hope Zec will be able to meet the deadline,
because the credibility of this year’s general election depends on it.” Newsday
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