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New poll body appointed
The Herald
January 21, 2005

http://www.herald.co.zw/index.php?id=39945&pubdate=2005-01-21

PRESIDENT Mugabe has appointed members of the new Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), an independent body to run elections, after consultations with the Judicial Services Commission and recommendations by a parliamentary committee made up of all political parties represented in Parliament.

High Court judge Justice George Mutandwa Chiweshe, who was appointed after consultations with the Judicial Services Commission, will chair the ZEC, which takes over the task of running all elections and referendums in the country starting with the approaching March parliamentary poll.

President Mugabe has also appointed Harare lawyer Mr Theophilus Pharoah Gambe as the new chairperson of the Electoral Supervisory Commission (ESC) to replace Mr Sobusa Gula-Ndebele, who was recently appointed Attorney-General.

At the ZEC, Justice Chiweshe will be deputised by Mrs Sarah Letty Kachingwe, while other members of the commission are Mrs Vivian Stella Ncube, Professor George Payne Kahari and Reverend Jonathan Siyachi-tema.

The four were appointed from a list of seven names submitted by the Parliamentary Committee on Standing Rules and Orders — which is chaired by the Speaker, Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa, and is made up of ruling Zanu-PF, opposition MDC and Zanu (Ndonga) MPs.

The parties are represented at the highest level in the committee with Zanu-PF having Vice Presidents Msika and Mujuru, national chairman Cde John Nkomo and the Leader of the House, Cde Patrick Chinamasa, among others.

The MDC is represented in the committee by the leader of the opposition in Parliament, Mr Gibson Sibanda and secretary-general Professor Welshman Ncube, among others, while Zanu (Ndonga) is represented by its president Mr Wilson Kumbula.

The other three nominees in the committee — which met on January 4 to make the nominations — had selected Bulawayo lawyer Mr Samuel Mlauzi, Mrs Constance Manika and Mrs Teresa Mugadza.

Justice, Legal and Parliamen-tary Affairs Minister Cde Chinamasa announced the appointments at a Press conference in Harare yesterday as preparations for the March polls gather momentum.

Voter registration and inspection of the voters’ roll began on Monday, while last week President Mugabe proclaimed the names and boundaries of the constituencies as finally settled by the Delimitation Commission to be the constituencies for the polls.

Cde Chinamasa said the five-member commission was made up of men and women whose integrity, impartiality, objectivity and independence of mind could not be doubted.

"The members of the commission are people of integrity and have vast and diverse administrative and other experience and will, therefore, be an independent and objective authority to administer all elections and referendums in Zimbabwe," said Cde Chinamasa.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission Act, which provides for the establishment of the Commission, becomes operational today following the gazetting of the statutory instrument fixing its date of commencement.

"The Commission will now be responsible for preparing and conducting the elections into the Office of the President and to Parliament, local authorities and conducting referendums, but more particularly the March 2005 parliamentary elections.

"To this end, it will direct and control the registration of voters by the authority charged with the registration of voters, ensure the proper custody and maintenance of the voters’ roll and registers as well as conduct voter education," said Cde Chinamasa.

Asked to comment on the suitability of Justice Chiweshe to chair the Commission, Cde Chinamasa said as a judge his objectivity was beyond question.

The minister said one aspect that had seen Justice Chiweshe’s emerge as a choice for the post was his broad knowledge of the country’s electoral system following his involvement with the Delimitation Commission, which demarcated the 120 constituencies for the March election under his chairmanship.

"We needed someone familiar with the electoral process. So that (being chairman of the Delimitation Commission) weighed heavily in his favour in view of time constraints," said Cde Chinamasa.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission Act states that the chairperson of the Commission must be a person qualified to be appointed as a judge of the High Court or Supreme Court.

Asked how the MDC – which has indicated it might boycott the general election – participated in the nomination of persons to be appointed into the ZEC, Cde Chinamasa said the threat by the opposition party was an empty stunt which would fool no one because all the indications are there for all to see that it will contest

He said the MDC had been directed by its masters, Britain and the United States, to take part in the poll and the threat of a boycott was just mere posturing to elicit sympathy.

"They are going to participate in the elections. It’s just posturing. The signs indicate their participation as they are holding primary elections," said Cde Chinamasa, adding that the MDC wanted to create the false impression that the electoral process was unfair.

He also dismissed claims by MDC spokesman Mr Paul Themba Nyathi that the Delimitation Commission was biased in demarcating constituencies, saying the Commission’s work was above board.

After delimiting the constituencies, Harare, Bulawayo and Matabeleland South lost one constituency each, while Manicaland, Mashonaland East and Mashonaland West provinces gained one each.

Cde Chinamasa said an analysis of the delimitation results showed that if there was any bias at all, it was actually in favour of the MDC.

He said the new Mutasa North constituency was carved from some parts of Nyanga and Mutasa, two seats presently held by the MDC in Parliament, while the new Manyame constituency incorporated Norton, an urban area. The MDC claims urban areas are its strongholds.

The third new constituency is Mudzi West, where Zanu-PF enjoys popular support.

"So if there was bias, in whose favour was it? If it was there, it favours the MDC," said Cde Chinamasa.

Cde Chinamasa said the ESC would remain to monitor the ZEC because Government felt the latter could not supervise itself as is the practice in other countries.

He said Zimbabwe was borrowing from the Mauritian model, where the elections body is monitored by a different body to ensure transparency.

"When the Commission is conducting the elections, someone needs to monitor whether it’s doing it within the parameters of the Zimbabwe Election Commission Act and the Electoral Bill.

"While it is expensive, I think it’s much more transparent because people cannot supervise themselves and expose their inadequacies."

Responding to another question, Cde Chinamasa said observers to the March poll would only be invited after the President has proclaimed the election dates.

"We have to set our institutions in place before we invite observers," he said.

The ZEC and the reforms to be introduced by the Electoral Act make Zimbabwe’s electoral system compliant with the Southern Africa Development Community guidelines and principles governing democratic elections.

The ZEC Act and the Electoral Act were approved by Parliament after Zanu-PF and the MDC agreed on a number of amendments.

Justice Chiweshe was appointed judge of the High Court in April 2001. He is a former Judge Advocate General in the Zimbabwe Defence Forces and also a former magistrate.

Mrs Kachingwe is the current chairperson of the Zimbabwe Charter of the Forum for African Women Educationalists and a member of the African Women Committee on Peace and Development. She was a member of the Constitutional Commission and a commissioner in the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Education and Training in Zimbabwe.

Mrs Kachingwe is a former Secretary of the then Ministry of Information, Posts and Telecommunications and held other posts in Government.

Mrs Ncube is a former chairperson of the National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations Western Region Women’s Forum, former chairperson of the National Section Committee Africa 2000, former director of the Agricultural Finance Corporation (now Agribank) and former vice secretary of the Zimbabwe Women’s Bureau.

Prof Kahari, a distinguished academic with several international awards, is a former Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Zimbabwe and was also Head of the Department of African Languages and Literature at the UZ.

Rev Siyachitema is a former Bishop of the Anglican Church, Harare Diocese, and was vice-chairperson of the Constitutional Commission. He is a former president of the Zimbabwe Council of Churches, which he represented at the Lancaster House talks in 1979, which brought about Zimbabwe’s independence. He is a former member of the UZ Executive Council and at present a board member of Zimbabwe Newspapers.

Mr Gambe is a senior partner at Gambe and Partners Legal Practitioners and was appointed to the ESC as a commissioner in 2002. He also served as member of the Council for Legal Education and was once a board member of NetOne and Zellco Cellular, among numerous other posts he held in various spheres.

Cde Chinamasa said the one vacant post at the ESC would be filled soon once a suitable candidate has been identified.

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