Inside Zimbabwe, The Road to 2023. #ZimElections

Young people pausing for a picture after successful registering to vote

There has been rumours that the 2023 elections in Zimbabwe can be postponed or will be held under the current boundaries. The conversation was ignited by the preliminary delimitation report that was released by ZEC which was a total disaster.
The disastrous preliminary delimitation report led to many people speculating that maybe the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission was deliberate in coming up with a scandalous delimitation report to either necessitate the Postponement of Elections or to have Elections conducted using the current boundaries which were drawn in 2007/08. Either theory cannot be dismissed given the nature of the regime that we are dealing with. After all, there might be a formula to this madness.

ZEC’s Failure to interpret the law

On the 26th of December 2022, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission through its Chairperson, Justice Priscilla Chigumba released a scandalous preliminary delimitation report. What was most notable was the mis-interpretation of section 161(6) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, especially with regards to the +/-20% threshold between the smaller and bigger constituencies or wards. According to ZEC the smaller constituency has 22112 registered voters whilst the biggest constituency has 33 168 registered voters – a variance of around 40%.

The importing of old legislation in drawing boundaries in particular section 61A (6) of the Lancaster house constitution among many mischiefs found in the preliminary delimitation report. This raised a lot of questions on whether or not this madness was deliberate. One cannot rule out this conspiracy theory given that the head of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission was a high court judge (Justice Priscilla Chigumba).
The constitution in section 238(2) mandates that a person who shall be appointed as a chairperson of the commission must be a serving, retired or anyone who qualifies to be appointed as a judge. The framers of the constitution were deliberate to spell this out given that the chairperson will be dealing with legal matters hence he/she must be able to interpret legal issues. Justice Chigumba was one of the finest judges of the high court hence the elevation to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission hot seat. How then did the commission misinterpret the constitution when drawing the electoral boundaries? This is maybe why those who are saying the misinterpretation was deliberate cannot be faulted to think like that.
However it is also important to note that the ZEC madness didn’t start with the delimitation report. If you go back to the 2018 election results where the number of people who casted their ballots were more than people who registered to vote on certain polling stations. In some cases more than 1000 people were alleged to have voted at a polling station in Norton, around Govansi Township. This is despite the fact that the electoral act says not more than 1000 people should be registered at one polling station.
These kinds of mistakes strengthen those who believe that maybe there is a foreign hand within the commission. Those who we thought are in charge might not be. But be that as it may, why would one choose to do something embarrassing as that leaves a lot to be desired. After all the 7 rogue commissioners are disputing the preliminary delimitation report as the work of only two individuals serving political interests but the most intriguing question is whose political interests is being served in such an embarrassing way. Who appoints people to serve his or her interest in such a way? Is this just general incompetence within the commission or these are political games. The latter sounds truer than the former.
Can elections be postponed? 

People who queuing to register to vote at Makombe building 

The term of office of the current Zimbabwean government expires on the 26th of August 2023. The current government and parliament cannot go beyond that without a constitutional amendment, it will be illegitimate (section 95 &143 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe) which talks about the term of office for the President and parliament respectively.
According to section 158 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe which talks about the timing of Elections in Zimbabwe, “A general election must be held so that polling takes place not more than—Thirty days before the expiry of the five-year period specified in section 143.” This means that Elections in Zimbabwe are due between 27th of July and 26th of August 2023.
Elections in Zimbabwe cannot be fast tracked or delayed without violating the constitution unless there is a constitutional amendment which cannot be done overnight (an explanation for another day). This means elections must be done and cannot be postponed without a constitutional amendment.
It is however important to note that Zimbabwe is an animal Farm case in which what Cde Napoleon decides is enforced whether anyone likes it or not. After all, Cde Napoleon and his associates are the army, the police and the central intelligence. Anyone who dares to oppose them will be jailed without trial or sent to exile. Cdes, you may remember well that there are too many snowballs who have skipped the border in fear of their lives or freedoms after being branded traitors hence if they decided to say elections will be postponed, no one can stop them despite what the laws says. They are the law. I will however argue on what the law basically says.

Can Delimitation Processes Delay Elections?

According to section 161 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, redrawing of new election boundaries should be complete on or before 6 months before a general election so that they can be applied for that election. The law doesn’t say if the delimitation processes is delayed, elections will be delayed hence the failure to finish the delimitation processes in time cannot impact the date on which the elections must take place.
Does ZEC have enough time to finish the delimitation Processes?
The preliminary delimitation report that was submitted by ZEC is a total disaster without a doubt. It is however important to note that it can actually be corrected before the deadline that is stipulated in section 161 of the constitution of Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has up to the 28th of February 2023, to come up with proper electoral boundaries if they are to be applicable in the 2023 harmonized elections. This is not beyond reach, if we are to look at the recommendations of parliament.
Looking to the future
It is important to note that currently in Zimbabwe, there is no delimitation act that explicitly guides or deals with delimitation. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission relies with the poorly worded section 161(6) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe and section 37A of the electoral act. While these two laws seem a bit progressive they however don’t deal with delimitation explicitly. This is to say, they leave a room for mischiefs or misinterpretation. It is important that the next parliament comes up with a delimitation act to avoid future challenges.
In the meantime the public will have to do with whatever ZEC decides to do in terms of the delimitation exercise. Stakeholders have raised their concerns but the final say lies with ZEC and those who control them. The biggest losers will be Zimbabweans who are yearning for democracy and sustainable development.

Youngerson Matete is a pro-democracy and Human Rights activist,  a student of Political Science.  He is the founder of Project Vote 263, a youth-led initiative to foster inclusive participatory democracy in Zimbabwe. He writes in his own capacity.

Cell : +263 773 622 044

Email: youngmatete0@gmail.com/ directorprojectvote@gmail.com