What Parliament Ad Hoc Committee said about delimitation report- full report

The Committee was tasked to conduct a detailed analysis of the Report concerning the provisions of section 161 of the Constitution and present its findings and recommendations in the National Assembly and Senate on Friday 13th of January 2023. The report would form the basis for debate by the Houses on 17 and 18 January 2023. Parliament would then submit its Report on the findings and recommendations on the ZEC 2022 Preliminary Report on the Delimitation Exercise to His Excellency the President by 20th January 2023 for onward submission to ZEC. These processes were to be completed within 14 days in terms of section 161 (8) of the Constitution.

This Report, therefore, is an outcome of the analysis by the Committee and contains findings and recommendations by the Ad Hoc Committee as mandated by Parliament.

2.0 TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR THE AD HOC COMMITTEE.

The Ad Hoc Committee’s Terms of Reference are as follows–

To analytically consider the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission 2022 Preliminary Report on the Delimitation Exercise and that it complies with section 161 of the Constitution; and

To report its Findings and Recommendations to the National Assembly and the Senate on Friday, 13th January 2023.

 3.0  METHODOLOGY

During its work, the Committee conducted a review of legal instruments which are relevant to the delimitation exercise, and looked at the previous delimitation report for 2007/8. Given the technical nature of the delimitation exercise, the Committee engaged a consultant with expertise in delimitation issues and public policy. Furthermore, the Committee received oral submissions from ZEC to get an appreciation of how they conducted the delimitation exercise. The Committee also received written submissions from Members of Parliament on their concerns on the delimitation exercise. The Committee analyzed the Report together with the oral and written submissions and came up with a report for presentation to both Houses. It is critical to note that the Committee was working within a tight schedule as it had only seven days within which to discharge its mandate.

The Committee expresses its greatest appreciation to ZEC for the time and effort invested in this exercise and the expertise they continue to share. The Committee also expresses its gratitude to Members of Parliament, the Secretariat and the consultant, the people of Zimbabwe and any other stakeholders for their critical contributions towards the delimitation process.

4.0 FINDINGS AND OBSERVATIONS

4.1 The Committee would like to acknowledge with great appreciation the work undertaken by ZEC in fulfilling its Constitutional mandate, considering that this was its first delimitation exercise after the enactment of the 2013 Constitution of Zimbabwe. In its analysis, the Committee however, came up with key findings and observations which include the following:

• ward boundaries that were delimited above and below the maximum and minimum thresholds,
• insufficient information in descriptions of wards,
• a highly complicated coordinate system,
• unspecified map scale,
• unlabeled wards,
• topographic features not presented on the maps,
• maps that do not show old and existing boundaries,
• lack of justification on changes in boundaries in specific wards and constituencies,
• (1) Polling stations not indicated on the maps,
• use of preliminary census data; and
• possible misinterpretation of the minimum and maximum threshold.

Continued next page

(212 VIEWS)