HARARE – A fresh legal battle is looming after parliament on Wednesday okayed controversial new nomination fees for election candidates, set at US$20,000 for individuals intending to run for president.
The Constitutional Court (ConCourt) last week ordered parliament to review Statutory Instrument 144 of 2022 which increased the nomination fees for candidates seeking to contest in the August 23 elections.
The top court ruled that the National Assembly had neglected to examine the statutory instrument to ensure its compliance with the constitution.
But parliament’s five-member legal committee, which was tasked with reviewing the statutory instrument, on Wednesday issued a non-adverse report, dashing any hopes of having the fees changed as demanded by opposition parties who warn that the fees will deplete their budgets.
Candidates must pay US$20,000 to run for president, up from US$1,000, and U$1,000 for parliament, up from US$50.
Opposition legislators wanted the adverse report to be presented and debated in the National Assembly.
Citizens Coalition for Change MP Prince Dubeko Dube (Binga North) said: “The five members were simply delegated a duty to scrutinise. After scrutinising that Statutory Instrument, this house is empowered to demand that that non-adverse report be presented here. Why? Because the public is watching, they want to know why this committee concluded that the fees that were gazetted are alright.”
But acting speaker William Mtomba said the adverse report on nomination fees would not be debated in the National Assembly.
He ruled: “I also would want to inform you that the PLC is constituted by members of this house. It is a leg of parliament, a committee that has been chosen from the learned lawyers, who know the law of this country. So, they came up with their findings and they reported to this parliament, now we are saying the house is not happy with that? I think it is very important that with all due respect, you can actually approach the court because the Parliamentary Legal Committee was instituted by this parliament.
“We are not all lawyers. Those Members who form the Parliamentary Legal Committee are lawyers. So whatever they bring to this parliament, we actually feel that it is coming from competent lawyers of this nation.”
Speaking to journalists, Zanu PF chief whip Pupurai Togarepi said debating the PLC report would be a waste of time since election dates were already proclaimed.
“Whether we were going to debate about these fees, whether we were going to think we can alter them, they were not going to apply in this election. They would apply in 2028 or during primary elections. So, it was just an academic debate, wasting everybody’s time,” he said.
Devine Mhambi Hove, who leads the opposition National Alliance of Patriotic and Democratic Republicans (NPDR), had sued parliament arguing that Statutory Instrument 144 gazetted last year violated section 67 of the constitution which sets out political rights of Zimbabweans, including the right to “stand for public office and, if elected, to hold public office.”
He argued that parliament had not considered if the statutory instrument infringed the rights of citizens. The ConCourt tossed the statutory instrument back at parliament.
Hove’s lawyer Prof Lovemore Madhuku is now expected to file a fresh court application, seeking to have the fees declared unconstitutional.
Any legal challenge would have to be brought on an urgent basis as the nomination court is due to sit on June 21 to register candidates for August’s election.
