PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa last week said elections would be held in five months’ time. His remarks sparked debate on the preparedness of the country to hold the elections amid reports that some political figures were seeking to postpone the elections. Our reporter Obey Manayiti (OM) spoke to Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi (ZZ) on this issue and more. Below are excerpts from the interview.
By OBEY MANAYITI
OM: Do you think the country is ready for elections in terms of preparations? We are speaking especially about putting systems in place at the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec), which still has no substantive chairperson, where registration is still taking place and where a lot more other processes like cleaning up the voters’ roll and its inspection are still to be done?
ZZ: What you have to appreciate is that the Constitution gives a guideline of what ought to happen. It says when a president is elected, the country has to go for elections after five years. Now in our case, former president Robert Mugabe was sworn in on August 28 2013 and if you count five years, it will come to 28 August 2018. Elections have to be held according to the Constitution at least a month before the expiration of the term of the president. When His Excellency said elections would be held in the next five months, he was simply stating the constitutional requirements to call elections within that time frame.
Secondly, we have registered over five million voters and what is left are administrative issues. Cleaning up a voters’ roll is a computerised system where you need a system, a unique identifier, to remove double registrations. The budget is already there; we budgeted for elections in the current budget. Everything is set for the holding of elections within the stipulated time frame.
OM: There is debate right now where there are claims that there is a push to postpone elections by three years. Do you think this will work?
ZZ: The Constitution is very specific regarding that issue. It says elections have to be held at least a month before the expiration of the term of office of the elected president, from the day he was sworn in. The current president is just completing the previous president’s term and elections have to be held according to that provision in the Constitution. We are not in a crisis whereby we should tell ourselves that we are not ready for elections when we knew very well from the day that the previous president was sworn in that after five years, we were supposed to go for elections. Who has been taken by surprise that in 2018 we have to go to election? Nobody, we all knew.
OM: The opposition and other electoral watchdogs have been calling for the implementation of electoral reforms. How far have you gone with that?
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ZZ: The president is very clear that we want free, fair and credible elections. However, having said this, we have an electoral amendment that is before Parliament and I have said to all civil society organisations, political parties and everyone, the president has set the tone that we need free and fair elections and everyone who has issues surrounding the Electoral Act has an opportunity to go to Parliament and present their case so that they are included in the report that will be debated in Parliament. I am amenable to amending certain sections if they bring forward issues that are critical for us to hold free, fair and credible elections. That, we agree to do even though we say our electoral laws as they are today, and our Constitution as it is today do not allow us to conduct and deliver a free, fair and credible election.
OM: How far have you gone in replacing the former Zec chairperson Justice Rita Makarau?
ZZ: What you need to appreciate is that the Constitution says the Zec chairperson must be appointed by the president after consultations with the Judicial Service Commission and the Committee on Standing Rules and Orders. You appreciate that when the previous Zec chairperson tendered her resignation, we were going towards holidays and Parliament was adjourned and also, the process that the president has to undergo is that he has to apply his mind and determine who is suitable to deliver a free, fair and credible election as the leader of the electoral body.
All these issues, you cannot address in a day and wake up to announce. There is need for in-depth consultations. When you identify somebody, you then need to write to relevant organs that are mandated by law to be consulted and these are the processes that the president is doing. He is mindful that he has to do this as quickly as possible, but you also have to appreciate that she [Makarau] resigned towards holidays and we just came back this January. The president is mindful that this process has to be concluded as soon as possible but you do not want to rush things, you have to approach it cautiously. Very soon, once the process is completed, announcements will be made.
OM: There are reports that Makarau was forced out as Zec chairperson. The allegations further state that you intend to replace her with someone you can easily control. The fear out there is that this will compromise the credibility of the elections. What do you say about this?
ZZ: I am not aware of that. All I know is that I saw a letter of resignation that she requested me to forward to the president and I asked why she was taking that decision and she said it was for personal reasons. I cannot force somebody to do a job that she feels she has done enough and needs a rest. You cannot force her.
I don’t believe she was forced out. Secondly, on the issue of controlling somebody, I think if you are a person of integrity and a person who knows the constitutional requirements, you would not allow yourself to be manipulated. The Constitution is very clear that once you are there, you are not subject to the direction of anyone; so I think certain individuals just want to hide behind the finger or their incompetence. You cannot hide behind a ghost controlling you, I don’t believe in that. It might be a social media thing that has no substance.
OM: Again, some opposition parties have been advocating for UN, AU and Sadc supervised elections and to have those institutions run elections in Zimbabwe claiming Zec is partisan. As government, what can you say about this?
ZZ: We have laws and a Constitution that we put in place and all the parties were involved. The Constitution is very clear that we must have an independent electoral body to manage elections and our independent body is called Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and that is the body mandated by the law in Zimbabwe to conduct the elections. That is the law and that is what we will follow.
OM: Away from elections, there are people currently serving as ministers who have alleged records of corruption. Why are they not being investigated when we see the government in overdrive pursuing those allegedly linked to G40?
ZZ: There is a difference between bar talk and somebody coming forward with tangible evidence of corruption. For the law to take its course, you need tangible evidence that you can then say there is a prima-facie case that we can go with to court and have prospects of convictions. Once you don’t have that, it would be persecution on those particular individuals. I will give you a good example of what minister (Patrick) Chinamasa said in Parliament yesterday [Thursday].
The whole diamond industry in the world is worth about $15 billion and it is not practically possible to have $15 billion worth of diamonds to have been mined in Zimbabwe within that short space of time. He indicated that what the former president was saying was a figurative speech and was not really saying $15 billion either in cash or diamonds had been stolen. Some people then took it as real without tangible evidence that can be the basis of arrest and prosecution.
OM: So, you mean government is closing the case on this $15 billion diamond revenue?
ZZ: I didn’t say that. I said what honourable Chinamasa said in Parliament was the state of affairs within the diamond industry and how much it is worth the world over. He said this was a figurative speech to show that something was not correct and he threw this figure to show that certain individuals might have committed offences which must be investigated. To take that figure and be fixated that this was lost is not the correct thing.
OM: But are you still acting on lost diamond revenue in Marange?
ZZ: Oh yes, that is something that even our parliamentary committee is looking into. They said they are investigating that and I am sure the new minister is looking into that with a view of having closure in some of those things.
OM: Thank you for your time honourable minister.
ZZ: Thank you.
