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This comes as Zimbabwe Electoral Commission chairperson Justice Rita Makarau has said that the successful conduct of the Constitutional Referendum a fortnight ago buttresses Zimbabwe’s capability to hold free, fair and peaceful elections.
Said Minister Matinenga: “The draft Constitution has been gazetted today (yesterday) in the Government Gazette and we are going to have it gazetted for 30 days as required by the law before taking it to Parliament for debate on May 7.
“It has to go through all the Parliamentary processes before the President assents to it and it becomes law.”
The minister said no changes had been made to the draft.
“The people have spoken and there is no need for any changes. There is nothing new except that we have attended to technical things like putting a comma here and as well as correcting other things that have got nothing to do with the content. Parliament has already accepted a motion on that before and I see no problems emerging.”
According to the law, the Constitutional Bill should be gazetted for 30 days before it is taken to Parliament.
“There is more than 30 days between March 28 and May 7 while we expect Parliament to debate for a week or so. If the two thirds majority required to pass the Bill is obtained from the House of Assembly and Senate, then it means the Bill will be placed before the President to become law.”
Minister Matinenga said the responsible ministries would soon start aligning various laws with the new Constitution as the country heads for harmonised elections this year.
“It is clear we are heading for an election this year and there is nothing wrong if we start aligning laws with the new supreme law concurrently with the parliamentary processes,” he said.
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“We will be looking at laws relating to the elections that is the Electoral Law and Local Government rule. For example, we have the issue of aliens who have to vote in the forthcoming elections and this is only possible if we align the new Constitution with the laws.”
ZEC is confident that it can handle the forthcoming harmonised elections without hitches.
“We have learnt that a peaceful poll in Zimbabwe is possible. We cherish this lesson and learnt and we hope that all Zimbabweans have also learnt that a peaceful poll is possible and that they equally cherish this lesson as we do,” said Justice Makarau.
She said Government should release funds timeously ahead of elections to ensure efficiency.
It became clear during the referendum week that there was a need for polling materials and officers to be deployed on time to different parts of the country.
There is also need for voting infrastructure to be set up on time to enable all polling stations to open at the same time nationwide on day.
“The conduct of elections, being restricted in terms of the time within which everything must be done from polling to the announcement of results, is capital intensive and cannot be resourced piecemeal as all personnel, election materials and other logistics such as transport and communication have to be in place well before the commencement of polling.
“There is no room for delay. Other aspects related to a free and fair poll, such as voter education should commence well before the actual conduct of the poll. Therefore adequate funding and the timely release of such funding become imperative,” she said.
The ZEC boss urged those not on the voters’ roll to register, saying registration was a continuous process.
“Voter registration is a continuous process in Zimbabwe. People are free to visit the voter registration centres set up by the Registrar of Voters in the various districts and provinces of the country to register as voters.
“It is prudent for people to utilise these facilities and not wait for the mobile registration exercise, which is only conducted prior to a general election.”
Mobile voter registration was supposed to start in January, but was put on hold owing to lack of funds.
Justice Makarau, however, said failure to conduct the exercise would not affect the status of the voters’ roll.
ZEC requires US$107 million for the harmonised elections and Justice Makarau said the organisation was in dire need of funds to buy vehicles and other equipment to conduct its business efficiently.
The Sadc observer mission and local observers commended ZEC for the manner in which it conducted the referendum.
Statistics show that more people in rural areas, which are Zanu-PF strongholds, voted in huge numbers, while in urban areas the figures were low.
The draft Constitution was overwhelmingly endorsed by over three million Zimbabweans during a constitutional referendum that was held on March 16.
The plebiscite saw 3 079 966 people voting for the adoption of the draft while 179 489 voted against the document.
A total of 3 316 082 votes were cast in the referendum, the highest voter turnout in Zimbabwe since independence.
Online Reporter