Mixed views over political party registration

© THE recent feud between MDC Alliance and Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) over a new political outfit, MDC Zimbabwe exposes the absence of a legislation regulating local political parties.

Analysts contend that for political parties to add value to Zimbabwe’s democracy and development policy agenda, there is a need for a strong regulatory framework governing their registration, deregistration, functioning, funding and accountability.

The issue has however divided opinion with others arguing that stringent regulation of parties, while promising to sanitise the situation might even further close the democratic space.

Lawyer and politician Obert Gutu said the need to formally register political parties in Zimbabwe is actually long overdue. “A political party is a voluntary association but there should be certain rules and regulations that guide the registration of political parties to prevent the hazard of having numerous political parties that are, in reality, one-person bands.

“Those political parties that access public funds through the Political Parties (Finance) Act should have their accounts examined and audited by a competent authority to ensure that taxpayers' money is not being misused.”

Political analyst Vivid Gwede said political parties are at the centre of representative democracy and the easier they can enter the political field to give the citizenry more options the better.

“In Zimbabwe the problem of too many political parties is symptomatic of other fragile countries like the DRC. It is a sign of dyfunctionality not of the law but the politics. But the political market will render irrelevant parties to the dustbin.

“Stringent regulation of parties, while promising to sanitise the situation might even further close the democratic space, given such laws can be used to kill off political competition, which is already in a crisis in Zimbabwe. What should be banned instead is the attempt by curious elements to imitate the names of existing parties,” said Gwede.

Political analyst Maxwell Saungweme believes there is no need for any legislation to regulate political parties. “We have more pressing issues as a nation than these political parties. We should have legislation, instead that allows sitting presidents and ministers to be charged and arrested for gross negligence of duty if we are going for days without medicines, doctors, electricity and years with debilitating unemployment.

“These political parties are the same. They are run by power hungry people who are looking for employment. So you can’t bar others from participating or expressing interest to contest because you think you are more popular than them.”

Saungweme said the only regulation he would support is for accountability for funds dispensed by the state. “This disbursement of funds is also a problematic issue in Zimbabwe as party funding is given to a few parties with certain thresholds of seats in parliament and the funds are disbursed even in a crisis when the government is broke and people are dying in hospitals without medicines.

“I actually think the political funding laws must be scrapped. No political party should be funded from national purse and no regulation should be put for political parties apart from the Constitution and laws that affect everyone.”

Zimbabwe Election Support Network (Zesn) in its position paper titled Political Party Regulation in Zimbabwe identifies the fault lines in the legal framework which although not inhibiting the formation and operation of political parties, falls short of defining what political parties are or ought to be as well as categorically stating how they are to be established, what are their functions, limits, modalities for their funding and accountability measures.

Consequently, the country is faced with challenges of election related disputes and conflict, volatile party system and lack of political party accountability. Furthermore, Zesn says this is blamed for the administrative challenges that beset the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) during elections.

The position paper uses examples from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and East African Community (EAC) to motivate for the regulation of parties. In an example from the SADC region, Lesotho and South African legal frameworks provide for the regulation of political parties where the election management body (EMB) is bestowed with the powers to register and de-register political parties, intervene in their disputes and demand them to account on public funds it dispenses to them on behalf of the Treasury.

In the EAC region, Kenya and Tanzania are used to illustrate a case there is   legislation that governs the registration, operations, funding and accountability of political parties as well as legislation establishing an oversight mechanism in the form of the office of the Registrar of Political Parties.

Zesn recommends that political parties must be regulated to ensure that they adhere to a certain legal and normative framework in terms of their internal functioning, financing and code of conduct.  A statutory body akin to the Kenyan Registrar of Parties, be established to deal with the registration of parties instead of the EMB.

“Care must be taken to ensure that calls for the regulation of political parties are genuine and meant to enhance of party systems, inter-party relations and build stronger political parties.

The paper agitates for resourcing through regulation that allows for public and private sources of funding. At the same time, it underlines the need for their urgent regulation so that they are held accountable as pubic institutions.

“The absence of political party registration regulation has led to a ballooning number of political parties especially during an election season where in the period before the 2018 Harmonised elections there was a record number of 127 political parties,” said Zesn.

The proliferation has led to an unstable party system manifest in the deteriorating relations between political parties and society on one hand between parties especially due to splits on the other. Zesn rebuts the notion that political parties are private entities and therefore reserving the right to manage their affairs and conduct their business as they please. It argues that the fact that they contest power to run public office and become beneficiaries of public funds makes them accountable and must be regulated like any other public institution.

“In the absence of proper regulation of political parties, the threshold for forming a political party and contesting in elections is very low thereby making the country prone to election related disputes and conflict. Individuals who are disgruntled within parties form new ones usually around election time.

Equally, people who think they can access quick money through elections form political parties regardless of whether they have support or whether they stand for anything beneficial for the country. In fact, there are no registration fees required for one to register a political party in Zimbabwe.”

Locally, political parties and candidates that decide to contest in an election are required to pay an administration registration fees at the nomination courts. These fees are determined by the ZEC in terms of Section 47 of the Electoral Act 6 of 2018 which states that “At the same time as the nomination paper is lodged in terms of section 46 there shall be deposited with the nomination officer, by or on behalf of the person nominated, such nomination fee as may be prescribed, which shall form part of the funds of the Commission”. 

For the 2018 Harmonised Elections, these fees were; $1,000.00 for aspiring Presidential candidate; $100.00 for aspiring Parliamentary candidate.

The other effect on non-regulation of political parties is their proliferation which led to about 127 political parties as at May 2018. Zesn says the proliferation evinces the frailties of interparty (horizontal) relations.

It has created hostilities between the parties and the splinter parties as witnessed in the case of the numerous Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) splits into MDC-Tsvangirai (MDC-T), MDC-Ncube (MDC-N) which regarded itself as the real MDC, MDC-Mutambara (MDC-M) and later the Coalition of Democrats (CODE), People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

This was also the case of ZANU PF and Joice Mujuru’s Zimbabwe Peoples First (ZPF), between the ZPF and its splinter, the National People’s Party (NPP) and between ZANU PF and the National Patriotic Front (NPF).