Zimbabwe is Ready to Bounce Back in the Commonwealth

By Dr Masimba Mavaza

The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) brings together leaders every two years, hosted by different member countries on a rotating basis, focusing on “One Resilient Common Future” and “Transforming our Common Wealth.” Building on progress since CHOGM 2022 in Rwanda, leaders will address global economic, environmental, and security challenges.

Honourable FN Mata’fa, Prime Minister of Samoa, stated, “We look forward to welcoming the Commonwealth family to our home.” This year’s meeting is significant for Zimbabwe, which has applied for readmission to the fold.

Zimbabwe faces opposition from sponsored NGOs and misguided political parties. Despite this, Zimbabwe has made significant strides in human rights and political issues. The country prays that the Commonwealth will not be motivated by bias, regionalism, or racism in its decision due tostatements being made by the Western Sponsored and opposition aligned NGOs namely the ZImbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights and the Zimbabwe NGO forum..

Zimbabwe has established the Zimbabwe Independent Complaints Commission Act, providing an Independent Complaints Commission to investigate allegations of human rights violations. Each security service has internal disciplinary mechanisms to investigate such allegations. Zimbabwe maintains a zero-tolerance policy towards misconduct and interacts positively with human rights bodies like the UN and AfCHPR.

The government takes allegations of human rights violations seriously, committed to upholding citizens’ rights in accordance with the Constitution, the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Zimbabwe’s democratic space has improved, making it a politically safe and stable country in Africa, qualifying it for readmission. Its human rights record surpasses that of other countries.

What awareness lessons given if any to security officers on the issues of Fundamental Human Rights?
The promotion and protection of human rights is a key priority. Zimbabwe has integrated human rights education into the training curriculum of security agencies like the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF), and Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service (ZPCS).

Key initiatives include:

– Comprehensive human rights education program
– Compulsory human rights modules for new recruits
– Two-year diploma in human rights and refresher courses
– Regular workshops and seminars with civil society organizations and international partners

Zimbabwe recognizes corruption as a significant threat and has established the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) to investigate and prosecute corruption cases. Security agencies have robust internal disciplinary units to monitor and investigate corruption.

Measures to combat corruption include:

– Amendments to anti-corruption laws
– Declaration clauses for senior public servants and security sector personnel
– Swift action against corrupt officers

Zimbabwe remains committed to creating a transparent, accountable, and integrity-driven security sector.

Zimbabwe’s legislative agenda also prioritizes human rights protection. The Constitution guarantees fundamental rights for all, with Chapter 4 providing a comprehensive Bill of Rights. This includes civil, political, environmental, economic, social, and cultural rights.

Key Legislation:

– Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission Act [Chapter 10:30]: Establishes the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) to promote, protect, and enforce human rights.
– Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act [Chapter 9:23]: Criminalizes human rights abuses, including torture, assault, and sexual offenses.
– Domestic Violence Act [Chapter 5:16]: Addresses domestic violence, providing protection to victims and holding perpetrators accountable.

The protection of freedoms provided in our constitution has seen the licensing of various media platforms, more political parties participating in elections and people freely expressing their political affiliation, movement of people without hindrances and free expression of religious affiliation by citizens.

In order to ensure that the freedom to life is guaranteed, the government has moved to introduce the abolishing of death sentence law which is undergoing Parliamentary processes.

The judiciary also plays a crucial role in ensuring that freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution are protected. Courts have the power to review actions by enforcement agencies including the Government, strike down unconstitutional laws and to ensure that justice is administered in a fair and impartial manner.

Furthermore, Zimbabwe’s people-driven Constitution ensures good governance and accountability. Presidential term limits are clearly outlined, requiring a national referendum for amendments. Even then, sitting presidents cannot benefit from term extensions.

President Mnangagwa has publicly reaffirmed his commitment to upholding the Constitution. Zimbabwe’s governance is built on three independent pillars: the Executive, Parliament, and Judiciary, with checks and balances to prevent interference.

The Judicial Services Commission ensures transparent judge appointments, free from presidential influence.

This robust system demonstrates Zimbabwe’s dedication to democracy.

More on oversight, the Constitution empowers Parliament to exercise oversight over the Executive branch, including the power to summon government officials to provide information, review budgets, and scrutinise government actions. The establishment of various parliamentary committees enables thorough examination and evaluation of executive policies and actions, fostering accountability within the government.

Moreover, a devolved governance system allows the central government and the local government to work independently of each other while there are interrelationships created, and this helps in the country’s developmental agenda and transparent allocation of public resources.

As highlighted above, the judiciary is part of the three separate arms of the government. To ensure the separation of powers, the judiciary must be free from the executive or Parliamentary interference as is what is prevailing in Zimbabwe. The Judicial Services Commission is a creature of the Constitution which is independent from the central government. To guarantee its independence, the Constitution provides that the judiciary is subject only to the Constitution and the law.

This guarantees that judicial decisions are made impartially and without interference. The Judicial Services Commission is responsible for the appointment, promotion and discipline of judges, providing a mechanism to insulate the judiciary from political or governmental interference. Tenure of office of judges is guaranteed, providing a process in terms of which judges may be removed from office, which protects judges from arbitrary dismissals.

To demonstrates its independence, the judiciary has passed judgments against government and Parliament in various matters which the Government and Parliament have substantial interest in, including declaration of invalidity of various laws and judgments in cases emanating from some policy pronouncement by government. Our judiciary is also a member of the International Commission of jurists and this has enhanced its independence.

In addition, there is no public statement by the judiciary about its independence and freedoms being violated by any other pillar of government.

In summation, the independence of the judiciary in Zimbabwe is not only guaranteed by the Constitution or the Judicial Service Act but is also reflected in its operations and landmark rulings, bringing a check on the actions of the government where there is a breach of the law.

It goes without saying that Zimbabwe has indeed gone beyond expectations to be a democratic entity that has been involved with the law and is now in the process to ensure that it does not become a suspect in Human Rights issues.