The Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe (WCoZ) has filed an urgent court application in the High Court challenging Statutory Instrument (SI) 114 of 2023 that seeks to correct Section 268 of the constitution as an illegal move that will also discriminate women.
Section 268 of the Constitution which was amended in 2021, stipulates that each province or metropolitan province has a council, and that ten women must be elected to those positions under a proportional representation system, thus excluding men.
However SI 114 now allows both men and female candidates to be nominated for political party lists after Zimbabwe’s government issued Statutory Instrument (SI) 114 of 2023 on the Statute Law Compilation and Revision (Correction of Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment No. 2. Act 2021) to correct an amended Section 268 of the Zimbabwean Constitution just before the Nomination Court convened on June 21, 2023.
As a result, WCoZ, a non-partisan network of women’s rights, is challenging the SI, claiming it is invalid, not done procedurally and reversed the need to transform women.
“We have filed a High Court Application challenging SI 114 of 2023 as illegal, invalid and in violation of the constitution. The Statutory Instrument prejudices women,” said WCoZ who also argued that whichever form or manner in which the SI 144 of 2023 is worded or couched, it is an amendment to the Constitution and not a correction.
“By the deletion of the word ‘women’ and insertion of the word ‘persons,’ the provisions of SI 144 of 2023 materially alter the provisions of the Constitution (amendment 2 of 2021).”
The procedure for amending the Constitution is clearly provided for in Section 328 of the Constitution, said WCoZ and by amending Zimbabwe’s constitution unprocedurally through a SI poses adverse challenges and violations of the rights of women, the electorate and citizens at large.
“The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission ( ZEC) has violated the Constitution, in any case, Section 157 (5) of the constitution provides that where an election has been called, NO CHANGE TO THE ELECTORAL LAW OR TO ANY OTHER LAW RELATING TO ELECTION HAS EFFECT FOR THE PURPOSE OF THAT ELECTION,” emphasised the women’s movement.
Therefore the purported changes introduced through SI 144 of 2023 do not have legal effect on this coming election, noted WCoZ.
“Compounding on the unconstitutional and non-procedural changes to the constitutions through SI 144 of 2023 is the press statement issued by ZEC dated June 21, 2023 which appears to be giving procedural and metropolitan council party lists. This administrative action is unconstitutional as it relies erroneously on the ability of subsidiary regulation to amend a constitution.”
WCoZ also argued that this unprocedural ‘last minute change’ to Zimbabwe’s constitution without subjecting it to public scrutiny and due process provided in Section 328 of the constitution is a travesty of democracy.
“The country cannot have a constitution in place and still have public institutions acting unconstitutionally,” said the women’s group.
“We reiterate that Section 268 of the constitution is very clear that Political party lists for Provincial and Metropolitan councils should be constituted by 10 women, therefore the same should and apply.”
WCoZ described the amended Section 268 as clear, not vague nor was it ambiguous.
“This is a progressive provision which was enacted following a deeply engaging, inclusive and informed process which was influenced by the imperative need to transform the lives of women, give women’s gross and systematic underrepresentation,” said the organisation.
“Therefore the current actions by various government agencies are retrogressive in regards to women representation. We emphasize that the constitutional development process was designed to directly address the fundamental rights of the women of Zimbabwe and promote women’s representation and gender equality in Zimbabwe.”
WCoZ added that the women’s movement was “outraged by the ongoing mutilation and degeneration of the same constitution at the hands of the government, with the support of ZEC.”
This development comes after two aspiring female presidential candidates, Elisabeth Valerio of the United Zimbabwe Alliance (UZA) and Linda Masarira of the Labour, Economists and African Democrats (LEAD), were disqualified from submitting their nomination papers last week due to RTGS payment challenges.
