D.Tinashe Hofisi: Reflections

It is just days before the deadline for your proposal submission, and you are hurrying to complete your first draft. Or you are still compiling data to extract narrative reports a few weeks before the due date. With each effort to secure the correct information, the prospect of completion is increasingly dimmer. Most of us have been, or will be, in the unenvious position of maximizing writing output in a limited time horizon. Whether as school assignments, activity reports, or longer-term tasks like dissertations, we confront the challenge of overcoming anxiety and stress to produce text that is as legible as it is intelligible. More qualified professionals have published granular pieces with tools for consistent writing over time, including how to complete a dissertation by devoting at least fifteen minutes each day. This post targets those whose circumstances do not permit such approaches. If, like me, you need to multitask extensively in a new setting and must conduct so much resea...

1. Introduction  On 11 January 2023, the High Court of Zimbabwe struck down section 314 of the Urban Councils Act. Justice Munangati-Manongwa ruled that the Minister of Local Government’s power to reverse local authority decisions is constitutionally invalid. Even though the court order has no force or effect unless confirmed by the Constitutional Court, it will spark spirited discussions regarding state structure and the proper allocation of powers between the centre and the periphery. According to the ruling, the Constitution grants residents the power to manager their own affairs. Thus, popular power cannot be subjected to a ministerial veto. It is not clear whether this laudable theory of direct democracy is supported by the constitutional text.   2. Devolution  Devolution is a discretionary grant of power by a sovereign entity to regional or sub-regional units. It is exercised in unitary states where centrality of power is constitutionally guaranteed. A devo...

Delimitation refers to redistricting of electoral maps. It accounts for changes in population demographics to achieve equal representation in single member districts. In countries like the United States, it is a hot-button issue because it is mainly done by legislative majorities in service of plurality/first past the post systems. These are winner-take-all elections in which all votes for losing candidates amount to wasted votes . They have no effect on incumbency. This makes redistricting particularly salient as electoral minorities can create voting boundaries which ensure long-term incumbency without mastering the support of popular majorities. This is the practice known as partisan gerrymandering .  Zimbabwe employs a winner-take-all system for the presidential election. Since the president is elected nation-wide, delimitation is of no consequence to the highest office. The directly-elected seats in the National Assembly and local authorities are vulnerable to gerrymandering....

On 24 January 2022, Nelson Chamisa launched a new political party, the Citizen Coalition for Change (CCC). This also signaled the demise of the MDC Alliance Party, a short lived stand-alone formation which existed following the 2018 elections and distinct from the 2018 coalition of seven parties. The main ideology of CCC was presented as re-centering the citizen in policy and decision making. This announcement, laden with claims of a people-centred revival within the main opposition party, was paradoxical in several ways, raising fundamental questions over the nature and purpose of political parties.  Political parties generally have a space for citizens in the form of their members. That membership is the highest voice in the political organization. It constitutes the party (party formation) can reconstitute it (constitutional amendment) and even terminate it (party dissolution). The members choose party leaders who remain subject to the membership’s ultimate authority. This expla...

The High Court released the full judgement by Justices Zhou, Charewa and Mushore regarding judicial tenure in light of the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution. This post discusses its findings regarding term-limits and human rights violations.   1. Term-limit and Age Limit Provisions  The central part of the judgement rejects the distinction between age limits and term limits as advanced by the respondents:  Their argument was that the retirement age stipulated does not limit the term of office of the judges. This argument means that judges of the Supreme Court and High Court have no term limit. That argument is not sustainable. Section 328(1) defines term-limit provision to mean "a provision of this Constitution which limits the length of time that a person may hold or occupy a public office". We therefore come to the conclusion that s 186 is a term limit provision and that it has the effect of extending the length of time that a person may hold the office of judge of...

On 15 May 2021, the High Court declared that the retirement age of judges amounts to a term-limit provision whose amendment cannot benefit current judicial incumbents. As a consequence, the Court ruled that Chief Justice Luke Malaba’s tenure ceased when he attained the retirement age of 70 (his election to serve a further five years notwithstanding). This post considers this judgement in light of the Constitution and its bearing on judicial design in Zimbabwe.  1. Effect of Section 328(7) of the Constitution  Section 328(7) of the Constitution prevents extension of tenure for sitting public officers through amendment of a term-l imit provision. The provision states that;  Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, an amendment to a term-limit provision , the effect of which is to extend the length of time that a person may hold or occupy any public office, does not apply in relation to any person who held or occupied that office, or an equivalent office, at any ...