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Tendai Mugabe Harare Bureau
THE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) yesterday insisted that the Zanu-PF candidate in the Hurungwe West by-elections, Cde Keith Guzah, was lawfully nominated to represent the revolutionary party although he failed to cast his ballot in the polls conducted on June 10.
It emerged Cde Guzah did not vote because his name was not yet appearing on the Hurungwe West constituency voters’ roll after he transferred his voting registration from Magunje constituency.
Said ZEC chairperson, Justice Rita Makarau: “Notwithstanding that he had transferred his registration as a voter to Hurungwe West, Keith Guzah’s name wasn’t electronically updated on the voters’ roll for that constituency because of a transposition of the block numbers relating to his old and new registrations.
“His old block number was captured as his new block number and the transfer was therefore not effected on the computer.”
In line with ZEC’s policy to avoid counterfeit slips, Cde Guzah was denied the right to vote in the by-elections.
Justice Makarau challenged anyone with evidence that Cde Guzah voted to approach the electoral body for further investigations.
“The official report by the acting provincial elections officer for Mashonaland West indicates that Keith Guzah didn’t vote in the by-election,” she said.
“Should anyone have any information to the contrary, they may confidentially let the commission have the details of where Keith Guzah might have voted for further investigations.”
Reports in sections of the private media claimed that the electoral body accepted Cde Guzah’s nomination papers without verification.
However, Justice Makarau said the Zanu-PF candidate’s nomination was qualified based on his transfer whose V3 form was there for inspection by anyone.
“(Cde) Keith Guzah was lawfully and procedurally nominated as a candidate for the Hurungwe West by-election,” said Justice Makarau.
“He was subsequently validly elected as the member of the National Assembly for the constituency,” she said.
“For the harmonised elections of 2013, Keith Guzah was a registered voter in Magunje constituency. On March 23, 2015, he lodged an application with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission at its head office voter registration centre, based at Quantum Mahachi Building, to transfer his registration as a voter from Magunje to Hurungwe West.
“The V3 form setting out his application for transfer of registration as a voter bears Serial Number 010599A and is available for inspection to all interested parties. On the basis of the above transfer, Keith Guzah was duly nominated as a candidate for Hurungwe West on April 8, 2015, when the nomination court for that by-election sat.”
In the hotly contested seat, Cde Guzah won 5,961 votes, while Temba Mliswa got 4,239 ballots.
Zanu-PF resoundingly won all the 16 seats in a by-election held on June 10.
Legal opinion is split on Guzah. Some lawyers argued the delay by ZEC to update its voters’ roll database did not have any legal effect on Cde Guzah’s election. Others were of the view that the electoral body bungled, saying according to the Electoral Act, it was not supposed to accept Cde Guzah’s nomination papers if his name was not appearing on the constituency voters’ roll.
Prominent Harare lawyer, Jonathan Samkange, said Cde Guzah met all the legal requirements prescribed by the Electoral Act for one to transfer from one constituency to another and the delay by ZEC should not affect him.
“The process to transfer rests with ZEC,” he said. “He (Cde Guzah) followed all the legal requirements to comply with the Electoral Act so how can he be disqualified?
“He’s not in control of the actual process of updating the voters’ roll and, according to ZEC itself, he qualified.”
However, former Attorney-General Sobusa Gula Ndebele differed, saying a precedence was set in the Gideon Gono case when he was disqualified as a Senator in Manicaland after it was discovered that the Registrar-General delayed to process his transfer from Harare to Manicaland.
“It’s a tricky one. You remember the Gono story. It looks like a related story in my view,” he said.
“Precedence was set before. It would be tricky that a person who can’t vote can be voted for. To be elected you must be a registered voter in the constituency you want to contest.”
University of Zimbabwe lecturer and law expert Professor Lovemore Madhuku said the Electoral Act was clear that (Cde) Guzah’s nomination was erroneous.
“For a person to be validly nominated as a candidate, the Electoral Act requires that person to be on the voters’ roll for the constituency in which he wants to be a candidate,” he said.
“The simple issue to decide in this case is the meaning of the voters’ roll. Is it a physical document or a document that exists in the air? The Electoral Act is clear that a voters’ roll can only be in two forms – either a hard copy or an electronic copy,” said Prof Madhuku.
“But it’s clear that whichever form, a voters’ roll is a list of names put together. It doesn’t consist of people who are not yet on the register but have to be on the register,” he said.
“(Cde) Guzah wasn’t on the voters’ roll for the given constituency although those compiling the roll agreed to enter his name. By the time of nomination, he was qualified to be on the roll but was not on the roll. Unfortunately for him, the law requires him to be on the roll.”
Online Reporter