Zimbabwe Parliament okays nomination fees

Zimbabwe’s Parliament has okayed nomination fees that were gazetted last year saying they do not infringe the country’s constitution.

This was after Parliament’s Legal committee met on 12 June and gave a non-adverse report on Statutory Instrument 144 of 2022 which increased the fees for presidential candidates from US$1 000 to US$20 000 and those for members of Parliament from US$50 to US$1 000.

The Constitutional Court, the highest court in the land, last week ordered Parliament to review the statutory instrument to see if it did not infringe the constitution. It gave Parliament until 16 June to do so.

Temporary Speaker William Mutomba told Parliament on Tuesday that he had received a non-adverse report on SI 144 of 2022 from the Parliamentary Legal Committee.

“The Parliamentary Legal Committee met on the 12th June, 2023 and considered Statutory Instrument 144 of 2022 gazetted in the month of August, 2022.  The Committee is of the opinion that Statutory Instrument 144 of 2022, gazetted in the month of August is not in contravention of the Declaration of Rights or any other provision of the Constitution of Zimbabwe,” Mutomba said.

Opposition legislators yesterday, however, argued that the ConCourt ruling was that Parliament and not just the legal committee should look into the SI.

Mutomba, however, argued that the committee was an arm of Parliament so there should not be any debate on the issue.

Nomination date is 21 June, which means any court challenge to Parliament’s ruling has to be finalised before that date.

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