Election preps in mess
By Thelma Chikwanha and Farai Mutsaka
Sunday, 16 October 2011 12:32
HARARE – A standoff between the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and Justice
Minister Patrick Chinamasa, as well as growing disaffection within the
inclusive government, is threatening Zimbabwe’s much-anticipated elections
scheduled for either next year or 2013.
The roadmap for the high-stakes election is viewed by many, including Sadc
and the entire international community, as vitally important – particularly
if the twin targets of political stability and sustainable economic growth
are to be realised in the country.
President Robert Mugabe, who is plagued by ill-health and advanced age, is
determined to have the critical ballots held next year.
But avoidable tussling between ZEC and the justice ministry on one hand, as
well as disagreements between the country’s coalition partners on how best
to amend electoral laws to guarantee an even playing ground have left
stakeholders worried that the country could be sliding back towards the
anarchy of 2007 and 2008.
Most Zimbabweans view the forthcoming poll as the country’s best chance to
end the political stalemate that has so negatively affected the development
of this nation for more than a decade now.
Highly-placed sources told the Daily News on Sunday this week that ZEC,
formed as an independent body to oversee the elections following successive
disputed polls, is struggling to assert its autonomy.
As a result, daggers are now drawn between ZEC and the justice ministry –
headed by one of Mugabe’s staunchest supporters, Chinamasa, over the control
of funds, as well as the strategic and operational
direction of the commission.
Another bone of contention, the sources said, was the resistance by
Chinamasa’s ministry and Zanu PF to allow ZEC chairman, retired Justice
Simpson Mutambanengwe, to carry out a human resources audit that would most
likely result in the necessary flushing out of intelligence agents who are
known to have been planted inside the
commission secretariat by Zanu PF when it enjoyed unfettered control of the
levers of power.
“Mutambanengwe’s decisions are on the basis that the commission will be more
effective once a skills audit is conducted and the right persons are
allocated to the right positions. He also wants to take advantage of that
audit to rebuild the image of the commission so that people will be
confident with ZEC,” said one source.
Another source said with regard to the body’s fights over funding,
Mutambanengwe was unhappy that the justice ministry did not just want to get
involved in ZEC’s operational activities, but also wanted to have the final
word on everything.
“Zanu PF is also jittery about ZEC receiving funding from Western countries
for capacity building, fearing that the elections body will somehow be
influenced to the former ruling party’s detriment,” one of
the sources said.
“Chinamasa is doing a hatchet job for his party, as it is desperate to win
elections at all costs. It (Zanu PF) is afraid to relinquish control and let
ZEC become the independent body it was created to be,” another source said.
While Mutambanengwe was unavailable for comment, he has previously stated
his desire to be weaned off Chinamasa’s ministry.
Chinamasa said he could not comment as he was out of the country when
contacted by the Daily News on Sunday.
But his deputy, Obert Gutu, confirmed that election preparations were in
turmoil and that ZEC was battling to get its “independence” from his
ministry.
Gutu said problems besetting the electoral commission would be solved once
“it is adequately resourced to secure its own premises, commissioners and
when support staff are adequately resourced in terms of equipment and office
furniture so that they are be able to conduct and run a credible election”.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC party has said it will
not participate in an election held before the ZEC concerns are fully
addressed.
These concerns included a comprehensive human resources audit and the
attainment of financial independence by the commission.
The party’s national executive decided at its meeting last week that it
would also not support the Electoral Amendment Bill, citing failure to
recognise the Diaspora vote as one of the reasons – a position that
puts the former opposition party at war with Zanu PF.
The MDC also demanded the following conditions:
– The completion of the Constitution making process and the referendum;
– Completion of the drafting of a new voters roll;
– Completion of full media reforms;
– Completion of all required legislative reforms; and
– Mechanisms to ensure that violence will not be a factor in the planned
elections.
“The party notes that any election which does not meet the above conditions
will be a sham election and the party will not have anything to do with a
sham election,” reads part of resolutions to the MDC national executive
meeting.
Zanu PF stands diametrically opposite to the MDC position on many of these
conditions.
Chinamasa told the international community during a UN Human Rights
Universal Periodic Review in Geneva last week that his party would not agree
to reforms such as repealing harsh media laws, casting a dark cloud over the
credibility of the forthcoming elections.
Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Justice, Legal Affairs, Constitutional
and Parliamentary Affairs will this week begin countrywide public hearings
on the proposed amendments.
Civil society groups such as the Zimbabwe Elections Support Network have
also demanded that ZEC, as a statutory body formed through an Act of
Parliament, should report to parliament rather than to Chinamasa.
“As Zesn we believe that Zec should be independent and their funding must
come from the Consolidated Revenue Fund,” Zesn director Rindai
Chipfunde-Vava said.
“We also recommend that Zec report to Parliament instead of the Ministry of
Justice. Reporting to the minister gives room to executive interference in
the election process.
“The minister is also a political player and a contestant, it therefore
gives his party a skewed advantage,” said Chipfunde-Vava, whose organisation
is the country’s biggest elections watchdog