Was Professor Madhuku misquoted?

The Herald this morning makes an astonishing claim, namely that Professor Lovemore Madhuku has advocated that the current law allowing prospective voters and candidates to register up to 24 hours prior to nomination court be abolished and that "the only people that could be prejudiced were those who wanted to contest as candidates and were not registered". It goes on to say that he recommends that Presidential Powers be used to effect these changes and that Parliament be bypassed.

If this is an accurate report it is almost beyond belief that a lawyer who also heads the National Constitutional Assembly could advocate for such a fundamental deviation from such a basic right - namely the right enshrined in section 67(3)(b) of the new Constitution which states that "every Zimbabwean citizen has the right to stand for election for public office and, if elected, to hold such office".

Furthermore the Herald reports that Professor Madhuku argues that no one wanting to stand will be prejudiced (if the people register after nomination day) because one has to be at least 21 to stand for election. If this is correct his assumption must be that the only people seeking to be registered for the first time now are those who have recently turned 18 and are still under 21. If this is so he has ignored the provisions of section 43 which allows tens of thousands of Zimbabweans who were viewed as aliens (because their parents came from SADC countries) to become citizens, to register and to stand for election if they choose. This line of argument also ignores the fact that the process of voter registration is not uniform and some Wards will only be reached after the nomination day has been held. For example in the Ward I live in (Ward 4 in Bulawayo) the mobile voter teams will only arrive on the 2nd July 2013 for the first time, ie after nomination day which according to the 31st July time frame must be held by not later than the 1st July (in terms of section 157(3) of the Constitution the nomination day has to be at least 30 days prior to the election day). So everyone who wants to be registered and stand for election in Ward 4 will just have to reconcile themselves to the fact that they can't exercise their constitutional right to stand for election! This is simply ludicrous.

The Herald also states that Professor Madhuku advocates that President Mugabe should use Presidential Powers to pass new Electoral legislation instead of letting Parliament pass legislation changing the provision mentioned above which allows voters to register up to 24 hours prior to nomination day. Aside from that being an incredibly retrogressive step which will effectively deny thousands their fundamental rights in terms of section 67 of the Constitution, it is also the height of hypocrisy for anyone to suggest that the President should use these powers now. The entire case brought before the Constitutional Court was premised on the argument that one should not allow a further 4 months of executive rule because that would be undemocratic. Now it appears that some of those who supported this notion are advocating the very same thing - namely the exercise of Presidential executive powers! However it is even worse in that it is suggested that these be used now when Parliament is still in session.

I know that the Herald can misquote and to that extent I want to give Professor Lovemore Madhuku the benefit of the doubt. If he has been misquoted I think he needs to say so urgently.

Last week I wrote about this debate becoming more and more farcical - but if this report is correct this debate could not get more farcical. I wonder just how far people are prepared to go to fit the election within this fundamentally unconstitutional and unlawful time frame?

As much as we all desperately need an election as soon as possible to bring this nonsense to an end it remains critically important that we comply with the Constitution. Some people seem to be so desperate to have an election by the 31st July that they are prepared to overlook or disregard fundamental rights in the Constitution. That is unacceptable. Our nation needs a credible election in which the rights of all citizens are respected. Anything less will plunge Zimbabwe back into the illegitimacy of 2008 with all its attendant chaos.

Senator David Coltart,
MDC Secretary for Legal Affairs