adminRights Act is expected to spell out the commission’s operational guidelines.
The allocation of resources for the operationalisation of the commission was also affected by the absence of the enabling Act.
Since the swearing-in of the nine commissioners in March 2010, there has bee no law, a development that has resulted in non-payment of the commissioners.
The commissioners are Dr Ellen Sithole, Dr Joseph Kurebwa, Professor Reginald Austin, Mr Jacob Mudenda, Mr Ndabeni Ncube, Ms Sheila Matindike, Mr Ellasto Mugwadi, Mrs Ona Jirira and Ms Norma
Niseni.
The commissioners, who include lawyers, academics and businesspersons, are currently at their old jobs awaiting the bill to sail through.
The ZHRC chairperson Professor Austin confirmed that the commission was ready for the human rights task.
He said the enabling Act was critical in that it was the one that was expected to spell out the manner in which the commission would operate.
They are supposed to be full-time commissioners.
“Yes I can say we have been dormant. This is because we do not have an Act guiding our operations.
“The Human Rights Bill has been sent to Parliament and we can only become operational when the bill sails through.
“We hope by then we will become more real,” he said. Prof Austin said Government had not yet allocated resources to the commission except for the recent acquisition of Fournos Building that was expected to house the commission.
He, however, said some progress had been made in terms of training the commissioners courtesy of a small fund the commission received.
“We are trying to prepare ourselves for the task. We got a little fund that we used to train our commissioners, while waiting for the time.
“Some commissioners have travelled to various African countries to learn and to have a better understanding of how other Human Rights Commissions are operating.
“We have held training workshops with the United Nations and we had an opportunity to hear some commissioners from other countries sharing their own experiences in running the commission,” he said.
Presenting the Human Rights Bill in Parliament on August 30 this year, Justice and Legal Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa, said the delay was due to a lot of consultations before the drafting of the bill.
“The House will recall that members of the commission were sworn in by His Excellency, the President Cde RG Mugabe in March 2010.
“However, the commission is not operative for lack of an enabling legislation.
“Mr Speaker Sir, the legislation to operationalise the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission has taken us more than a year to craft and honourable members are entitled to ask the question: Why this inordinate delay?
“The matter took so long because, given the nature of the subject matter, I had to consult widely.
“Inevitably, the process became rather protracted,” Minister Chinamasa said.
Online Reporter