Zimbabwe's Upcoming General Elections Test for Commonwealth Readmission

British Labour Party legislator Sonny Leong stated that the upcoming general elections in Zimbabwe should be a highlight of the country's willingness to rejoin the Commonwealth, but so far, nothing is pointing in that direction.

Speaking during a Parliamentary debate on what the UK was doing about Zimbabwe's readmission bid, Leong stated that "In the context of Zimbabwe's application to re-join the Commonwealth, the 2023 election could and should be an opportunity for the government to demonstrate its democratic credentials. Sadly, the portents are not good,"

However, Liberal Democrat Baron Jonny Oates said, “severe damage would be done to the Commonwealth's reputation by readmitting Zimbabwe while it failed to meet the basic standards of the organisation's human rights benchmark, Zimbabwe was in flagrant violation of the Harare Declaration of 1991”

Source: News24

Link:https://www.news24.com/news24/africa/news/zimbabwes-upcoming-general-elections-test-for-commonwealth-readmission-20230113

Catholic Bishops Condemn Zimbabwe’s Pre-poll Political Violence

The Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference (ZCBC) has called on the government to take action against suspected political thugs who recently assaulted elderly opposition supporters in the northeast of the capital Harare. Expressing concern at the growing culture of impunity in political spaces, the ZCBC demanded the prosecution of the assailants and the provision of support to the victims of violence by authorities.

In an official statement by the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference, the Bishops stated that “to curb nurturing such a culture, we call upon the government through its various institutions to bring the perpetrators of violence to justice and may the victims of that violence be protected and given the necessary care.”

Source : Journalducameroun

https://www.journalducameroun.com/en/catholic-bishops-slam-zimbabwes-pre-poll-political-violence/

Delimitation Parly Committee Raises Questions

The Parliament of Zimbabwe ad-hoc committee set up to analyse the preliminary Delimitation report has presented its report to the Parliament. The Ad-hoc committee, in its findings, noted that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission delimited some ward boundaries below the maximum and minimum thresholds as stipulated by the Constitution. Apart from failing to meet the required thresholds, the ad-hoc committee also noted that ZEC needed to provide more information to justify the changes in ward and Constituency boundaries it made.

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, unlabelled 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,
Polling stations not indicated on the maps, use of preliminary census data; and
Possible misinterpretation of the minimum and maximum threshold,

Source: Herald

https://www.herald.co.zw/delimitation-parly-committee-raises-questions/

Law Society of Zimbabwe Condemns Police Assault on Harare Lawyer

The Law Society of Zimbabwe (L.S.Z.) has expressed deep concern at reports that one of its members and Harare lawyer Mr Kudzai Kadzere, was assaulted and humiliated by the Zimbabwe Republic Police. Mr Kudzai Kadzere was representing a group of opposition party Citizens Coalition for Change activists who were arrested while having a private meeting at the home of a Member of Parliament, Hon Machingauta.

Source: Twitter

https://twitter.com/lawsocietyofzim/status/1614363565628039171?s=20&t=ps_CcALmW7koJ2zap23Icg