…Both Zanu PF And Opposition Do Not Want The Process To Succeed
Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs minister Ziyambi Ziyambi has today tabled the preliminary report on the delimitation of constituencies amid indications that both the ruling Zanu PF and opposition Citizens Coalition for Change do not want the process to succeed.
Prior to the report being made public, Zanu PF aligned organisations including Councillors4ED and MenbelievED among others openly opposed and dismissed the report while accusing the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) of not consulting key stakeholders during the process.
On the other hand, opposition aligned Team Pachedu urged legislators to reject the report arguing that it was made based on a shambolic voters roll which has not been availed to stakeholders.
“The delimitation report is based on a shambolic voters roll which Zec illegally refused to avail to stakeholders since May 30 when the delimitation roll closed. The report is manifestly flawed and should be rejected in its entirety for this very reason,” Team Pachedu said.
According to the delimitation report, Harare South has been divided into three seats while Epworth will now have two constituencies namely Epworth North and Epworth South.
Harare South will now have two additional seats namely Churu and Hunyani.
Collapsed constituencies namely Musikavanhu, Mberengwa South, Gutu South, Bulilima East, Zaka East, Zaka West and Chikomba Central are all occupied by Zanu PF, a situation that is likely to give headaches to the ruling party considering that elections are around the corner.
The opposition is also worried that newly created seats are mostly concentrated in areas where Zanu PF has either lost marginally or currently occupies.
Speaking during the parliamentary sitting held today, opposition Citizens Coalition for Change legislator Tendai Biti said the report will be measured on whether it followed the constitution and whether it was made in terms of the law.
“Delimitation Report has been tabled in Parly. That Report will be measured on 3 issues 1)Procedurally was it made in terms of the law (2) Substantively do recommendations comply with s161(5)&(6) of the Constitution & any other law (3)Does the data back the same,” said Biti.
Meanwhile, parliament has since set up an Ad Hoc Committee to analyse the preliminary delimitation report before reporting back to the house on 13 January.
The Ad Hoc committee is chaired by Pupurai Togarepi whose Gutu South seat has been collapsed in the report.
