Biti makes U-turn on elections

Instead, the minister said, Government was focusing on the referendum after allocating about US$25 million for the census.
By-elections, he said, were down the Government priority line.

Minister Biti, however, told the nation only two months ago that Government had set aside a chest of US$100 million for national elec-        tions.
The funds, the Minister said in an interview with our sister paper the Sunday Mail in July, were part of the US$500 million Special Drawing Rights (SDR) allocation, which the country received from the International Monetary Fund to mitigate the effects of the global financial crisis in 2009.
Government agreed to bank the money as a contingency plan for the impending polls.

Legal experts, however, said it would be unconstitutional to hold by-elections in three constituencies only regardless of the fact that the court judgment specifically dealt with the three constituencies.

“The President is bound to comply with the order, which in principle should be for all the vacant constituencies though failure to hold them in other constituencies will not constitute contempt of court,” said University of Zimbabwe law lecturer Professor Lovemore Madhuku.
“If the President only calls for by-elections in those three constituencies, he will be in serious violation of the Constitution.

“Although the court was dealing with three constituencies, the net effect of the judgment was to tell the President that he is acting unlawfully by not calling for by-elections in all vacant constituencies.”

Prof Madhuku said if by-elections could not be held, then general elections were supposed to be held.
Director for Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights Ms Irene Petras said by-elections were supposed to be held in all the vacant constituencies in compliance with the Constitution.

“In terms of the law, by-elections should be held in all the vacant constituencies. The responsibility is on the President to set the date for by-elections.
“On the issue of resources, Government can approach the court and express their challenges. They will then have to wait for the court to make a decision,” Ms Petras said.

The Supreme Court recently upheld a Bulawayo High Court decision that by-elections be held in the three Matabeleland constituencies.
This was after three former legislators who lost their seats following their expulsion from the Professor Welshman Ncube-led MDC, Mr Abednico Bhebhe (Nkayi South), Mr Njabuliso Mguni (Bulilima East) and Mr Norman Mpofu (Lupane East) instituted court action.

They declared their interest to contest for the constituencies as independent candidates.
In its judgment, the court ruled that by-elections were to be held despite Government’s submission that there was no money for the exercise.
The President was given up to October 1 to proclaim dates for the by-elections.

MDC argues that the three former legislators were ineligible to stand in the by-elections if they were to be held because of the moratorium among the parties in Government that they would not contest each other.
The trio is now in the MDC-T structures.

However, Zanu-PF spokesperson Cde Rugare Gumbo and MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai said the moratorium had expired and the parties were supposed to contest each other.