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Writes Elvis Dumba
Banket – Parliament is expected to correct a constitutional blunder that was a result of a printing error. This was revealed by the Minister of Justice, Legal, and Parliamentary Affairs, Ziyambi Ziyambi.
The legal guru said they only noticed the error recently following information availed by the opposition members from Citizens Coalition of Change.
“We noticed an error in Constitutional Amendment Number 2 which deals with the selection of female Provincial Council members. We only saw this when we were already preparing for the said process after some members of Citizens Coalition of Change brought out the issue,” Minister Ziyambi revealed during a Zvimba ZANU PF District Coordinating Committee meeting in Banket.
Ziyambi said the issue of ten females being elected for seats in the Provincial Councils did not come from Parliament.
“We noticed the error but that issue of ten females did not come from Parliament. We don’t know how that clause came into being when the bill was taken to the President for signing. It should have said five men and five females to make a total of ten Provincial Councilors, not ten females. We went back to Parliament records and listened to the recorded Hansard. There is no mention of ten females. We do not know what happened along the way from parliament to the President for signing the bill into law,” he said.
Ziyambi said legal teams from his ministry will write to Parliament to correct the error before the nomination court to allow the correct law to stand.
“I have tasked a legal team from my ministry to write to Parliament so that the error is rectified,” he said.
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is set to receive nominations for the presidential, house of assembly, senate, local authority, youth quota, and Provincial Council candidates this Wednesday 21 June 2023 for the 2023 Harmonised General Elections.
Reached for comment, Zimbabwe Electoral Commission Deputy Commissioner Utoile Silaigwana said he cannot make a comment on the matter as they have not received anything over the matter.
The current Electoral Act stipulates that each political party submits a women-only list for the Provincial Council of ten people with a payment of US$200 or local currency equivalent at the prevailing bank rate.
Political parties have been shortlisting prospective candidates for the electoral nominations for various posts.