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Fungi Kwaramba Political Editor

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) yesterday handed a revised report on the delimitation of constituency and ward boundaries to President Mnangagwa, taking into account concerns raised by stakeholders that are not at variance with the Constitution.

At the same time, ZEC chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba said Zimbabweans must always remember that the mandate of the elections management body was to the Constitution of Zimbabwe and not to a few individuals.

After handing the report to President Mnangagwa at State House in Harare, Justice Chigumba said she was confident that the President would approve of the revised preliminary delimitation report because ZEC had applied its mind to concerns that were raised, both by the President himself and Parliament.

“What we did, is we resubmitted to the President the concerns and our responses to those concerns,” she said.

The corrections are reflected in the preliminary delimitation report that ZEC handed over to the President yesterday.

Justice Chigumba said ZEC submitted two documents to the President, one that contains responses to concerns raised by the President himself and the other responding to issues raised by Parliament.

The ZEC chairperson made an impassioned plea to Zimbabweans to put the country, its laws, and the Constitution first before selfish interests.

She said Zimbabweans must always realise that opinions on the interpretation of the law can differ but the focus should, in the case of elections, not be on differences but that which binds Zimbabweans together.

“Let us focus on what unites us and less on what divides us. As ZEC we have been mandated to conduct all electoral processes in Zimbabwe, and I would like to reassure Zimbabweans; we do not do electoral processes in order to benefit individuals or to benefit certain organisations. We conduct elections to benefit our country.

“This is an election year and we would like to go to elections in peace and in a non-toxic environment. We would like to go to elections in an environment where constitutional processes are accepted by Zimbabweans, and where there are questions or queries, we sit down as Zimbabweans, talk about it, and bring each other on board,” Justice Chigumba said.

In that spirit, she challenged Zimbabweans, from across the political divide, to ensure that this year the country has a peaceful environment and demonstrate by deeds that indeed Zimbabweans are a peace-loving people who have come of age.

“As the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, we have done our best in drawing the boundaries, what we are appealing for, from our voters, from the Zimbabwean people, is for peace; no violence as we go towards elections,” said Justice Chigumba.

“However, as the chairperson of Zec, I pride myself that ZEC is a family. Whatever is happening or not happening at ZEC, we can assure Zimbabweans that within the next month or so, we will have everything under control so that we go to elections as a united ZEC.”