CONSTITUTIONAL COMMENTARY AND EVENTS

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. 

What does this mean for Zimbabwe’s so-called new dawn? What effect will the elections have on the economic situation in Zimbabwe? Importantly – can the elections really be deemed to have been “free and fair”. 

Please join 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 for discussion led by various experts. The event is supported by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) and speakers include: 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). 

South Africa celebrates Women’s Day annually on 9 August to commemorate the more than 20 000 multiracial women, who, on the same day in 1956, marched to the Union Buildings to protest proposed amendments to the Urban Areas Act of 1950 (introducing pass laws for women). In an age before social media, and other modern advancements in communication devices, it is perhaps no exaggeration to describe this gathering as monumental. While it took a further 38 years after the march for all South Africans to finally enjoy equal protection before the law, it remains imperative that the intergenerational activism be carried forward, handed from generation to generation.