[5th July 2008]

Update on Legislation
No Bills, Acts or Statutory Instruments were gazetted this week.

Following the 27th June Elections

Swearing in of President
Mr Mugabe was sworn in as President on the afternoon of Sunday 29th June by Chief Justice Chidyausiku, following the Chief Elections Officer's declaration that he had won the Presidential run-off election. His term of office is five years, ending at midnight on 28th June 2013.

Commencement of Parliament
The five-year term of the new Parliament commenced on Sunday 29th June, the day the President was sworn in. [Constitution, section 63(4)]

Opening of Parliament
The first session of the new Parliament [Zimbabwe's Seventh Parliament] must commence before 17th July. [Section 62 of the Constitution prohibits a gap of more than 180 days between sittings, and the last sitting of the old Parliament was on 17th January.] The date will be announced by the President by proclamation in the Government Gazette. On that date the session commences with a ceremonial opening of Parliament performed by the President. In his opening address the President will announce his Government's legislative programme for the session.

Swearing-in of MPs and Senators
Before the ceremonial opening of Parliament, MPs and Senators must be sworn in. The Clerk of Parliament will notify MPs and Senators when this will take place, and will preside over the swearing-in ceremonies in the House of Assembly and Senate chambers. The date for these proceedings has not yet been announced.

Election of Speaker of House of Assembly and Deputy
Also before the ceremonial opening of Parliament, the Speaker of the House of Assembly and Deputy Speaker must be elected. As soon as MPs have been sworn in and a quorum of 25 MPs is present, the Clerk of Parliament will preside over the election of the Speaker.
* The Speaker must be chosen from among persons who are or have been members of the House of Assembly. Members of the Cabinet, Ministers and Deputy Ministers are disqualified. [Constitution, section 39(2)].
* If more than one person is proposed and seconded, the Clerk of Parliament must conduct the election by secret ballot.
* If a sitting MP is elected Speaker, his or her seat immediately falls vacant, and the vacancy will have to be filled by a by-election. If a former MP is chosen, there is no effect on the membership of the House.
Following the election of the Speaker, the Deputy Speaker is chosen from among MPs. He or she remains an MP.

Election of President of Senate and Deputy
Also before the ceremonial opening of Parliament, the President of the Senate must be chosen, by Senators, from among persons who are or have been members of the Senate or the House of Assembly [Constitution, section 36(2)]. Members of the Cabinet, Ministers, Deputy Ministers and Provincial Governors are again disqualified. If a sitting Senator is elected, his or her seat falls vacant and must be filled by by-election [if an elected Senator] or appointment [if an appointed Senator]. The proceedings for the election of the President and his or her Deputy correspond to those for the election of the Speaker. The quorum is 11. The Deputy President is chosen from among Senators, and remains a Senator.

Composition of House of Assembly
The by-elections conducted on 27th June resulted in one seat for the MDC-T and two for ZANU-PF, making the final breakdown of the 210 seats in the House as follows:
MDC-T 100
MDC 10
ZANU-PF 99
Indep. 1
The combined MDC majority may be rendered ineffectual by the inability of some MPs to attend Parliament for reasons ranging from abduction, arrest and detention to hospitalisation as a result of post-election violence [some 10 MDC-T MPs have been arrested in recent weeks and 7 more are said to be on a police 'wanted' list].

Effect of pending election petitions on House membership
An MP's right to take his or her seat is not affected by the lodging of an election petition challenging his or her election.

Composition of Senate
The breakdown of the 60 elected seats in the 93-member Senate is as follows:
MDC-T 24
MDC 6
ZANU-PF 30
The remaining 33 seats are made up as follows:
Chiefs 18
Provincial Governors 10
Presidential appointees 5
No announcement has been made regarding the 5 Senators to be appointed by the President, or new Provincial Governors.

Vice-Presidents, Ministers, Deputy Ministers and Provincial Governors
* The existing Vice-Presidents, Ministers and Deputy Ministers have continued in office, unaffected by the Presidential swearing-in on 29th June. That is in accordance with the Constitution. [Section 31E(1) states that Vice-Presidents, Ministers and Deputy Ministers continue in office until 'a new President' assumes office. Mr Mugabe is not 'a new President' for the purposes of this provision; he has merely commenced a new term of office. There is a Supreme Court decision confirming this.].
* However, Vice-Presidents, Ministers and Deputy Ministers hold office at the President's pleasure and can be removed from office at any time. Traditionally there has always been a post-election Cabinet reshuffle.
* Ministers who failed to gain seats in the House of Assembly or the Senate will automatically forfeit their Ministerial status when the new Parliament first meets [Constitution, section 31E(2)] - unless by then they have secured seats. The only seats available are the five Senate seats for Presidential appointees.
* Provincial Governors at the moment are also continuing in office, but they too are subject to removal at the President's pleasure. All ten Provincial Governors are ex officio members of the Senate.

Local Authority Councils
Under both the Urban Councils Act and the Rural District Councils Act, councils must meet 'as soon as is practicable' after a general election and elect mayors or chairpersons. These inaugural meetings must be presided over by provincial administrators [Harare and Bulawayo] or district administrators [all other councils]. There is no provision for the meetings to be delayed waiting for a Ministerial order. Nevertheless, the Ministry of Local Government delayed the swearing-in of the new councillors elected in the harmonised elections of 29th March until the result of the Presidential run-off election of 27th June was known and the successful candidate sworn in. The legal basis for the Ministry's stance was not publicly spelled out. Following Mr Mugabe's swearing-in as President on 29th June, the Ministry gave the go-ahead for councillors to be sworn in and mayors and chairpersons elected. This has already happened in Harare, where a non-councillor, Mr Muchadeyi Masunda, was chosen as mayor. A non-councillor may be elected as mayor of a municipality. In all other cases the council chairperson must be a councillor. The new mayors will not be executive mayors; the institution of executive mayor was abolished by the Local Government Laws Amendment Act passed in January. Their principal function will be presiding over council meetings [Urban Councils Act as amended, section 104]. Any 'caretakers' [previously called 'commissioners'] recently appointed by the Minister of Local Government to run council affairs, cease to hold office as soon as a newly elected council commences functioning [Urban Councils Act, section 84].

Information supplied by Veritas