President assents to two Bills

Zvamaida Murwira

Senior Reporter

President Mnangagwa has assented to the Electoral Act, which seeks to operationalise the constitutional amendments made regarding election of youths and women to special additional seats in the National Assembly as the Second Republic continues its policy thrust of leaving no place and no one behind.

He has also given his assent to the Children’s Act, a major milestone towards enhancing child protection in the country. The Act defines clearly and regulates the processes to keep children safe from neglect and abuse.

The assent by the President to these two new laws was announced by the Chief Secretary to the Office of the President and Cabinet, Dr Misheck Subanda in an Extraordinary Government Gazette published yesterday.

The Electoral Amendment Bill sailed through Parliament last month and its signing into an Act by the President will operationalise constitutional amendments for the election of 10 youth members in the National Assembly, one from each province, as well as the continued election of 60 women six from each province to the National Assembly under the party list system. This was moved into the Constitution some time ago, but still needed to be implemented by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, hence the amendment to the Act.

The retention of the extra seats for women for another 10 years, and the introduction of a similar addition for youths, is in line with the Second Republic’s thrust to empower everyone so that women and youths equally play a critical role in decision making process. The Act also turns the constitutional provisions into law to extend the new provision for the election of women on a party list system to provincial councils and an additional 30 percent women’s quota in local authorities as the Government seeks to empower women in all its tiers.

The Act also stops the use of driver’s licences as proof of identity by persons who register as voters and those who obtain ballot papers at polling stations in order to cast their vote.

Most of the provisions will not, however, take legal effect in the forthcoming polls since the law was passed when President Mnangagwa had already gazetted August 23, 2023, as the date for harmonised elections.

During debate, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi shot down submissions by legislators from the opposition who wanted the clause allowing a driver’s licence as proof of identification to be retained.Members of the opposition had argued that since driver’s licences were issued by a Government arm, the Central Vehicle Registry, it remained prudent to allow their use.

Minister Ziyambi said national identity cards and passports must be the sole legitimate documents to be used when voting given that they were issued by the Registrar General. The CVR requires a national ID before it issues a drivers licence, making the licence a subsidiary document totally dependent on the proper national ID.