180821 CFCR KAS SAIFAC INVITE opt

There was much hope for the recent elections in Zimbabwe, particularly since these were the first elections in post-independent Zimbabwe where former President Robert Mugabe was not the presidential candidate for the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) political party. In the hotly contested election, current Zimbabwean President, Emmerson Mnangagwa, has been declared the winner of the presidential race, with ZANU-PF gaining more than two-thirds of the seats in Parliament. Amid accusations of rigging, voter intimidation and an uneven playing field, leader of the opposition MDC Alliance, Nelson Chamisa, is at the moment contesting the results on the basis of various electoral irregularities, which served to favour the incumbent. 

On Tuesday, 21 August, the Centre for Constitutional Rights (CFCR) and the South African Institute for Advanced Constitutional, Public, Human Rights and International Law (SAIFAC), a centre of the University of Johannesburg hosted a discussion led by various experts including Adv Fadzayi Mahere (Law Lecturer, University of Zimbabwe and Independent Parliamentary Candidate), Siphosami Malunga (Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa), Manson Gwanyanya (Researcher, Legal Resources Centre) and Thulasizwe Simelane (Senior Political Journalist, eNCA). 

The event was held at Constitution Hill in Johannesburg, and supported by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS).