D.Tinashe Hofisi: Reflections

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....