Jomic under fire

Political Agreement to a fully-fledged national election monitoring group.
What has raised eyebrows is the fact that the latest International Crisis Group report titled “Zimbabwe: Election Scenarios Africa Report N° 202” released on May 6 proposes such a role for Jomic.
The report proposes that Jomic should;

Operationalise additional teams recruited in 2012 to complement existing teams working with the Operation Committee.

Increase outreach, co-operation and collaboration with civil society and faith-based organisations.

This plan has drawn fire from political parties outside Government that say Jomic’s life ends with the dissolution of the inclusive Government on the eve of the harmonised elections.

This, the parties say, legally renders Jomic unfit to perform any other duties after the demise of the GPA.
Sources close to developments say some Western countries, among them Britain, the US and the EU have pumped undisclosed millions into Jomic to finance the acquisition of material and human resources ahead of the elections.

This, observers say, appeared designed to give these countries that Government says will be barred from observing elections on account of the sanctions they imposed, a chance to monitor the elections by proxy.

Documents prepared by the Jomic secretariat, and meant for donors, expose the shocking amount of human and material resources the organisation seeks to mobilise to observe the forthcoming elections.

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The Jomic concept paper outlines parallel reporting structures that do not have links to Zec.
At the apex of the proposed hierarchy are; “Jomic co-chairs and members, (followed by) national command team, provincial command team, district team, constituency team, ward team and polling station team.”

Jomic wants to be represented in all 9 400 polling stations by three members at each centre, translating to 28 200 officials. The total number of people Jomic wants to execute the fresh mandate comes to 34 907 if people manning other command centres are included.
The organisation also wants to allocate six vehicles per province to ensure effective monitoring.

Sources said Sadc facilitator President Jacob Zuma’s backroom facilitation team was privy to the plans to transform Jomic into a poll monitoring group.

Ms Lindiwe Zulu, who speaks for the backroom team, was not picking calls yesterday.
Some of the 22 parties that have expressed interest in contesting the harmonised elections rapped Jomic, saying the planned transformation was ultra vires the provisions of the Electoral Act that stipulates that a Multi-Party Liaison Committee, comprising of all participating parties, should be set up to monitor the electoral environment ahead of and during the elections.

Section 160 B of the Electoral Act provides for the establishment of the Multi-Party Liaison Committee while Section 160 C provides for the committee’s functions which are given as: Resolving disputes, concerns, matters or grievances relating to the electoral process; referring to the Commission disputes relating to the electoral process; presenting to the Commission any reports, assessments, records or recommendations; and assist in implementing the electoral code for political parties.

The national multi-party liaison committee is chaired by a commissioner from Zec and consists of two representatives of each political party contesting the election.

An independent candidate is also entitled to select two representatives.
Some of the 22 parties that have expressed interest in contesting the forthcoming polls expressed concern at Jomic’s plans.
Zapu president Dr Dumiso Dabengwa, lashed out at Jomic’s attempt to work outside the law.

“I do not think that is fair for Jomic to claim to observe national elections. Jomic’s mandate (of supervising GPA parties) ends on the day the country goes for to polls. As far as I am concerned it’s better that local civic groups be allowed to observe the elections,” he said.

The President of Zanu – Ndonga Mr Gondai Vhutuza, said it was illegal for Jomic to observe the election because of its three-party composition. Jomic brings together representatives of Zanu-PF, MDC-T and MDC.

“Jomic has not been useful to us and I am sure will never be useful to us. These are national elections and not GPA elections. So Jomic’s role certainly ends on the day we go for elections. As we vote, there will be no GPA or Jomic,” he said.

Multi-Racial Christian Democrats spokesperson Mr Methias Guchutu, concurred with Dr Dabengwa and Mr Vhutuza that the other parties should stop Jomic’s attempts to impose itself on Zimbabweans.

“Nothing can and should be done without consultation. Who has Jomic consulted that it wants to be a national observer group representing all political parties in the country. They never asked us for our views. Our fear is that if they are allowed to observe elections, definitely they will be catering for the interests of these three parties in Government,” Mr Guchutu said.

Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn president Dr Simba Makoni, said he wanted to investigate first to establish Jomic’s intentions.
“Our position is we want to comment on issues that were are well informed about. But as far as we know Jomic’s mandate will ends before the elections,” he said.

The leaders of other parties could not be reached for comment.
A senior Jomic official who refused to be named confirmed that several meetings were held to that effect and it was suggested that Jomic be transformed to a national election observer organisation.

“Right now I do not have much detail…but its something that was mooted and there is a general belief that Jomic will have some credibility and what it says about the elections will be accepted by the world,” said the official.

Jomic spokesperson for this month Mrs Priscilla Misihairabwi Mushonga defended the planned transformation.
“All what your source is telling you is wrong. The truth is Jomic has the mandate to observe the elections. As for the accusations that Jomic want to outstep its mandate that is incorrect,” she said.

Jomic was formed in 2008 according to Section 22 of the GPA and is composed of members of Zanu-PF and MDC formations.
Some of its duties include ensuring the implementation of the agreement and there is no mention of the extension of the body’s mandate beyond the life of the GPA.

Some observers questioned why some donors that declined to fund the polls supervised by Zec wanted to fund such a proposed bloated structure.
Most of the countries that are pressing for the transformation of Jomic are the countries that have refused give Zimbabwe money to finance the harmonised elections giving conditionalities.

Jomic claimed in the document that its establishment and subsequent decentralization to provinces brought peace hence the need to transform it into an election monitoring and observing body.

“Jomic across the country has already won the confidence of a number of stakeholders and the public across the political divide as an entity that serves the interests of Zimbabweans irrespective of their political affiliation. This therefore gives Jomic leverage ahead of other players…,” reads the document in part.

Jomic would have teams observing the pre-election period, the election process, post election environment and general administration of the elections.

However, some observers said it was illegal for Jomic to assume new roles that were not included in the GPA when it was formed.
“It is unprocedural for Jomic to transform itself from an inter party liaison committee to a body that observe the national elections.

It seeks to usurp the powers of ZEC, a constitutional body mandated to run, supervise and manage national elections. Jomic is not a constitutional body, it is just a committee…it is not a legal persona. Even an individual in the street is better than Jomic because he/she can be sued or sue, even a burial society is better than Jomic. ZEC should only work with the Multi-Party Liaison Committee, which is a legal structure, which has the autonomy to do what Jomic wants to do,” said the observer.