The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) is a constitutional body mandated with managing the conduct of presidential, parliamentary and local government elections and the referendum. The reason why the electoral management body is always in the spotlight come election time is because a free, fair and credible election outcome largely hinges on the effectiveness of the commission. There are three most important factors that determine to what extent the electoral commission can conduct and manage a credible poll. They are the degree of independence of the commission, whether or not the commission is truly non-partisan in its operations and the adequacy of resources availed to the commission. It is the duty of Parliament to ensure that all these ingredients are available during election time in order to enhance citizen confidence in the electoral process and help deal with the problem of voter apathy.
The Constitution and the Electoral Amendment Act empower Parliament to play a role in the setting up and operations of Zec. Section 100B of the constitution requires the chairperson of the Commission to be appointed by the President after consultation with the Judicial Service Commission and the Parliamentary Committee on Standing Rules and Orders. The other eight members or commissioners are appointed by the President from a list of not fewer than 12 nominees submitted by the Parliamentary Committee on Standing Rules and Orders. The draft constitution has retained the same appointment procedure.
When it comes to reporting, the current Constitution requires the commission to submit without delay a report to Parliament on the conduct of every presidential, parliamentary, provincial, council and local authority election and every referendum. The draft constitution goes further to require every independent commission to submit to Parliament — through the responsible minister — an annual report describing fully its operations and activities. The report should be submitted no later than the end of March of the following year. Parliament has also been empowered by the draft constitution to come up with an Act compelling the commission to submit any other reports in addition to the annual report. Section 13 of the Electoral Amendment Act requires the Commission to submit to the president, the president of the Senate, the speaker of the House of Assembly and the minister such other reports on any matter related to its activities as the president, the President of the Senate, the speaker of the House of Assembly and the minister may require. The speaker of the House of Assembly shall cause every report received from the commission in terms of the Act to be laid before Parliament on one of the 24 days on which the Senate and the House of Assembly next sit, whichever House meets first after the speaker of the House of Assembly has received the report. It is clear from these provisions that Parliament has significant powers to oversee the work of the commission and bring it to account for its actions. Unfortunately, this has not been the case. Parliament is not exercising its powers.
One of the major functions of Parliament is parliamentary budget oversight. All the independent commissions are funded from the National Budget that is passed by the same Parliament. It is disheartening to observe that Budget debate in Parliament is largely silent on allocations to independent commissions, when they are expected to discharge very important constitutional mandates. The current fire-fighting approach to mobilisation of funding does not engender any confidence in the management of the electoral process.
In terms of the independence of the electoral commission, Section 100H of the current Constitution obliges the State to make adequate and suitable provision, through legislation and other appropriate means, to ensure that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is able to exercise its functions efficiently and independently, and that the Zec staff carry out their duties “conscientiously, fairly and impartially”. The draft constitution has several provisions spelling out what independent commissions entail in practice. This is a significant improvement on the current Constitution which does not spell out what exactly independence entails.
Section 235 of the draft clearly explains that although independent commissions are all accountable to Parliament, they are not subject to the direction and control of anyone, and that they must exercise their functions without fear, favour or prejudice. The draft constitution reiterates that “no person may interfere with the functioning of the independent commissions”. I, however, must point out that there are some provisions in the Electoral Amendment Act that will have to be amended in order to be consistent with provisions of the draft constitution when it becomes law. For example, Section 9 of the Electoral Act empowers the commission to appoint a chief elections officer or chief executive officer without approval from the Justice minister. However, the minister’s approval has to be sought when it comes to removal from office of the chief elections officer. For me this is blatant interference by the minister in the work of the commission, thereby compromising on its independence.
The law requires Zec to supervise the registration of voters by the Registrar-General’s Office, to compile voters’ rolls and registers and to ensure the proper custody and maintenance of voters’ rolls and registers. In addition to the functions set out in section 100C of the Constitution, the Commission shall be responsible for keeping the public informed about the times and places where persons can register as voters and the progress of the voter registration exercise.
The truth of the matter is that voter registration is in shambles. Many people are in the dark about where to go and register.
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Related to voter registration is voter education, which is also the responsibility of Zec. The commission may permit other stakeholders to carry out this function under its supervision. While Zec has a fully-fledged voter education department, it is not visible at all stages of the electoral cycle. The result is wrong public perception that voter education is only offered towards the run-up to elections. This partly explains why, despite the supposedly high literacy levels, Zimbabwe continues to have substantial numbers of spoilt ballot papers.
Parliament should, therefore, come to the party and ensure Zec is adequately resourced and that legal provisions guaranteeing its independence are enforced.
Parliament will have to amend the Electoral Act before the elections to align it with the new constitution once enacted into law. The relevant portfolio committee in Parliament must exercise its oversight role on the work of Zec in order for the commission to effectively discharge its constitutional mandate. We must see Zec reports submitted to Parliament and debated by the members.
John Makamure is the Executive Director of the Southern African Parliamentary Support Trust writing in his personal capacity. Feedback: [email protected]
