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Sharon Hofisi Legal Letters
We often say, “The Republic of Zimbabwe; the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, or the Constitution of the Republic”, and so forth, but do we really appreciate what that means at a governance level?

Zimbabwe follows constitutional republicanism, a position underscored in section 1 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, 2013. From the perspective of constitutional politics, Zimbabwe’s governance system points to the need for a constitutionally-elected government which involves the people in governance. This republican government must be sovereign or autonomous, but must also look up to the Constitution and the people as its Siamese sovereigns.

The adoption of a homegrown Constitution for Zimbabwe in 2013 affirmed the commitment of the people of Zimbabwe to establishing a constitutional republic, which has the three pillars that constitute a unitary, democratic and sovereign republic. The three pillars of “Unitary, democratic and sovereign” are analysed using the views from Thomas Baker and Jerre Williams on republicanism. Firstly, Baker and Williams (1992) note that republicanism is a foundational political philosophy for constitutionalism. Philosophy, at a basic level, is the love of wisdom.

In that vein, Zimbabwe’s republican status fits well into the descriptive box of constitutional politics. It is one of the deliverables of the Government of National Unity (GNU), which embarked on a constitution-making exercise, which culminated in the adoption of a justiciable homegrown constitution, which affirms Zimbabwe’s republican status.

A penetrating analysis of different political systems around the world is, however, not given in this article. Suffice to mention that some countries prefer monarchical or federal systems and so forth. Federal systems for instance have regions with delimited self-governing authority whereas monarchical systems have a hereditary head of State who can either be a mere figurehead or a powerful ruler.

Now that we have shown that republicanism is a foundational political philosophy, it must also be noted that it can also be used to determine why Zimbabwe did not follow other political systems. For some States, they simply do not prefer monarchical system because of its grandiose claims of the divine right of kings to rule over men.

For Zimbabwe, our Constitution entrenches the rule of law as part of the constitutional democracy, which we follow. We shun rule by law where the law is used to the detriment of the general populace. Political governance requires an embrace of a fundamentally constitutional perspective — that Zimbabweans across the political, racial, ethnic and other divides deserve more of a say in governance of Zimbabwe than do the people in power.

Linked to this is the obvious republican advantage, which Baker and Williams (ibid)) refer to as popular sovereignty. Popular sovereignty is used here as the ultimate measure of the legitimacy of governmental power. Put simply, the power to govern resides in the will of the people. Popular sovereignty is underscored in the social contract clause to the Constitution, the “We the People of Zimbabwe”.

The Preamble is the epitome of the consent of the self-governed sovereigns or the people of Zimbabwe to be governed by Government functionaries who exercise authority as is derived from the people. No wonder the first statement of the Preamble to the Constitution of the Republic speaks to “unity in diversity” among the people of Zimbabwe.

Linked to this diversity is the fact that the unitary pillar of the Zimbabwean republic points to a situation where sovereign power that is derived from the people is then concentrated in a single body (the State), instead of being shared or possessed by more local bodies.

The unitary nature fits into the Montevideo classification of States in that Zimbabwe is a sovereign populated geographical territory, which has the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign States. It has a central Government, which serves both as the centre for State engineering and the driving force for the exercise of political power.

For this reason, Government actors such as the Executive President of the Republic, and other executive institutions such as the Minister of Foreign Affairs are important in showing how Zimbabwe’s sovereign power can be used for the greater good of the polity. They must, however, ensure that national unity, peace and stability are fostered in Zimbabwe.

We may situate President Mnangagwa’s triangle of peace, unity and love in this unitary matrix. It is clear that Zimbabwe cannot afford to ignore that triangle if it is to move forward with its democratisation efforts. The democratic pillar of republicanism is also a key element of the republic.

Baker and Williams (ibid) suggest that it is difficult to get a pure democracy such as found in ancient Athens or in a New England town meeting where every person has a say and vote on every decision, even down to such details as whether to build a road. For Zimbabwe, constitutional democracy envisages a situation where laws are made by elected representatives in Parliament.

Our constitutional democracy allows for other forms of democracy such as representative or indirect democracy where Members of Parliament represent their constituencies and are constitutionally obligated to promote democratic governance in Zimbabwe.

The beauty of democratic republicanism is that the elected officials must serve for specified limited terms and must stand for the regularly scheduled elections.

The history of the franchise in countries such as the United States of America has been to broaden participation, more accurately to undo historical discriminations based on class, wealth, race, and gender (ibid). As Zimbabwe moves towards the 2018 electoral cycle, political parties must seek to encourage the electorate to tap into the benefits of party pluralism in our republic by registering to vote and actually voting for the election of Government officials of their choice.

Baker and Williams (ibid) describe what is called civic republicanism to describe an informed, active, and involved citizenry. Traditional emphasis focused on the active citizen, a term simply used to refer to institutions such as the academia, or community and civil society organisations.

The need for an informed, active and involved citizen is pitched in the need for the citizen to have the knowledge on political issues, which fits into political philosophy. She must also be involved, pointing to the need for Government functionaries, who respect the views of the citizen as contemplated by section 3 of the Constitution.

The Mnangagwa administration has been engaging institutions of higher learning. The role of the academic in shaping the domestic and foreign policies must be seen as part of civic republicanism. It is also part of the need to appreciate the role and place of accessibility and equality in participatory politics.

It is a given that democracy basically points to a government by the people, through the people and for the people. In essence, the people must elect their representatives; be allowed to influence the governance decisions; and Government functionaries must formulate and implement policies that reflect the needs of the people.

The efforts at democratisation in Zimbabwe are governed by the Constitution. We may consider values or democratic tenets that are regarded as founding principles of good governance such as multi-party political system; free, fair and regular elections; orderly transfer of power following elections; respect for the rights of all political parties; respect for the people of Zimbabwe from whom authority to govern is derived as so forth.

It may also be important to point out in this think piece that Zimbabwe is a decentralised country, which has local government bodies. The Preamble to Chapter 14 of the Constitution clearly indicates that devolution of power and responsibilities to lower tiers of government in Zimbabwe is meant to, inter alia: preserve national unity and prevent all forms of disunity and secessionism; to ensure democratic participation in government by all citizens and communities of Zimbabwe; and to ensure the equitable allocation of national resources and the participation of communities in the determination of development priorities within their areas.

The local bodies which, whenever appropriate, may exercise governmental power and responsibilities cannot be described as possessing sovereign power, or as autonomous bodies exercising political power. In all this, I agree with Baker and Williams (1992) that, “good government is not just a means to an end, but is also an end in and of itself!”

• Sharon Hofisi is a lecturer in Constitutional Law and politics. Feedback [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>