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Mapozho Saruchera-Correspondent

Social media was recently awash with messages questioning the appointment of former Vice President and Zanu PF Second Secretary Kembo Mohadi’s daughter, Abigail Millicent Ambrose, to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC). 

Mouthpieces of proponents of illegal regime change in Zimbabwe, such as The News Hawks, jumped into the fray alleging that the development would compromise the integrity and credibility of the country’s elections – nothing could be further from the truth.

To begin with, appointments to ZEC are made in terms of section 238(1)(b) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, which stipulates that the President appoints from a list of nominees submitted by Parliament’s Committee on Standing Rules and Orders (CSRO). 

On the other hand, section 237 of the same document provides for the procedure to be followed by the CSRO in deciding on its list of nominees. This demands that the Committee advertises the vacancies and invites the public to make nominations. 

It must then conduct public interviews of prospective candidates, prepare a list of nominees and submit the list to the President. The list sent to the President must give the Head of State a choice in the sense that the number of candidates on the list must be at least one-and-a-half times the number of vacancies to be filled.  

Finally, the President cannot appoint someone outside the CSRO list.

In mid-January 2022, the CSRO published press notices informing that six vacancies would arise in the membership of the ZEC on July 6, 2022. 

The notice also invited the public to nominate persons to be considered by the Committee for appointment to fill the vacancies – four for female Commissioners and two for male Commissioners.

The CSRO received 72 nominations comprising of 50 males and 22 females, by the closing date on 11 February 2022. 

The committee then met on May  20, 2022 to consider the suitability of the nominees to serve on ZEC. On June 17, 2022, 32 shortlisted candidates underwent public interviews as provided for in the country’s Constitution.

From the narration above, it can be noted that Ambrose’s appointment as ZEC Commissioner was aboveboard as she went through the process required at law and emerged successful. This also means that she is fully qualified for the job. 

Secondly, Parliamentary Committees are made up of members from across the political divide. In that regard, the opposition had ample time to shoot down Ambrose’s application – probably on condition that she lacked the requisite qualifications, which was not the case. 

This also shows the insincerity of the likes of CCC spokesperson, Fadzayi Mahere, who claimed that Ambrose’s appointment, was evidence that ZEC was partisan. 

How could she say that when members of her party were part of the CSRO that considered Ambrose’s application? Does that not bring out the non-partisan nature of the selection process, which then translates into ZEC being non-partisan? 

Surely we do not have to recruit from Mars to ensure that ZEC is independent, do we?

In light of the above, it can also be noted that the selection of ZEC commissioners is transparent. 

The general public was kept abreast through advertisements and notices. Some even responded to the invitation by Parliament to make nominations. 

Where were those people now questioning Ambrose’s appointment?

Turning to the argument that Ambrose’s appointment raises serious conflict of interest – what people should realise is that the newly appointed ZEC commissioner is not her father, hence deserves to be appointed Commissioner, just like any other Zimbabwean.  

There is no need to discriminate against her simply because her father is the Second Secretary of Zanu PF.

Why all this noise now? One might ask. Zimbabwe’s detractors have since time immemorial sought to tarnish the country’s electoral process with the aim of discrediting any election that does not favour the opposition and its handlers – this is just one such incident. 

The idea is to create a perception that Zimbabwe’s electoral process has no integrity with the hope that the general public would come to the conclusion that elections in Zimbabwe are not legitimate, hence their outcome is unacceptable. 

The resultant supposedly disputed election is then cited as the reason why the country’s economy is under-performing as opposed to the ruinous western sanctions. All this culminates in the opposition being presented as a viable alternative – something that it is not. But that is a debate for another day.