CIVIC society organisations (CSOs) have started lobbying Parliament to pass legislation to regulate the conduct of traditional leaders, especially during pre and post-election periods.
BY RICHARD CHIDZA
Electoral Resources Centre (ERC) director Tawanda Chimhini told NewsDay yesterday that his group, with support from other non-governmental organisations, last week petitioned Parliament demanding the legislature pass laws that “operationalise” the Constitution as regards the conduct of traditional leaders.
“Ours is a unique situation because ordinarily one would not have expected a situation where traditional leaders needed regulation in terms of how they go about their business,” he said.
“However, the politicisation that we have seen in pre and post-election periods has shown us that we need a code of conduct in order to operationalise the requirements of the Constitution relating to chiefs.”
Traditional leaders have for long been accused of turning themselves into de facto Zanu PF political commissars, amid reports that some of them were frog-marching their subjects to polling stations and in some instances banishing families deemed sympathetic to opposition parties.
Chimhini said a recent report by the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission has exposed the “complicity and tacit approval of traditional leaders in election violence in Hurungwe West during a by-election”.
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“We already have a code of conduct for political parties and players. Although this is never implemented and perpetrators of violence seem to be getting away with it, we think it is proper that the legislature sets up a code for chiefs and other traditional leaders.
“You will obviously have people arguing that the Constitution is already clear that chiefs should not dabble in politics, but we all know what has been happening. It is only proper that a clear law is passed that makes it easier to criminalise any misconduct by traditional leaders who remain a very powerful component of our society and political set-up,” he said.
The ERC petition also demands the repeal of contentious laws such as the Public Order and Security Act and the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, arguing these “hamper free political activity”.
“Your petitioners harbour the concern that the use of the General Laws Amendment Bill concept to amend several pieces of legislation, in the process lumping several different statutes under one Bill, has the added problem of making their analysis cumbersome, and hides the obvious deficiencies in the amendments proposed for the electoral law,” the petition said.
Government has indicated that at least 400 pieces of legislation need urgent realignment with the Constitution, but the process has been delayed by lack of resources.
