Gono to land senatorial seat, legal hurdle cleared

FORMER Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor, Gideon Gono looks set to land the Manicaland senatorial seat left vacant following the death of Kumbirai Kangai in August last year after President Robert Mugabe assented to the Electoral Amendment Bill.

The Bill had been waiting for President Mugabe to append his signature for it to become effective after both houses of Parliament passed it earlier in the month.

Gono's candidature was earlier in the year approved by the Zanu-PF Politburo, which is the highest decision-making body in the party outside congress, after he was unanimously recommended by the party executive of his home province of Manicaland. He could, however, not immediately take up the seat because the Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) Act which could have provided the legal basis for him to do so had expired. The temporary measures have a six month lifetime.

Clerk of Parliament, Austin Zvoma, said this week that it was now up to Zanu-PF to write to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to have Gono's candidature considered. ZEC is the electoral body which accepts candidates based on their eligibility. "There is one vacant position in the Senate so far and it shall be filled by the party which occupied that seat before it fell vacant," Zvoma said.

There had been a belief in some circles that with the Bill now enacted open positions would be up for grabs by any party, not necessarily limited to Zanu-PF. However, Zvoma disputed this.

"According to the provisions of the new Act, the seat is not open to contestation by political parties. The party which previously occupied it has the right to fill it up and it will have to write to ZEC to have their candidate approved. It is up to ZEC to determine compliance with the provisions of the Act," Zvoma explained to the Financial Gazette.

Zanu-PF spokesman, Rugare Gumbo, said the task to file nomination papers with ZEC lay with the Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa in his capacity as the Zanu-PF secretary for legal affairs. Mnangagwa could not be reached for comment as his phones were continuously unreachable.

ZEC chairperson, Rita Makarau, could also not be immediately reached to confirm if the electoral body had started accepting nominations or whether any correspondence had as yet been made to her organisation by the ruling party. Presidential spokesperson, George Charamba, told the Financial Gazette that while the President had signed the Bill, that alone would not be sufficient for someone to be appointed. "Laws do not appoint a person. There are other processes involved to do with the Parliament, Ministry of Justice and the party itself," Charamba said.