Legal experts unpack mayoral selection under new Constitution THE party with the highest number of National Assembly seats in a particular province can nominate a non-executive mayoral candidate outside the elected councillors, legal experts have said. While the party could nominate any candidate for the non-executive mayoral position, only elected councillors are allowed to vote that person to become a mayor at their first sitting. Copac co-chairperson, Cde Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana, said according to the Urban Councils Act, a mayor is elected by councillors. “He does not necessarily have to be a councillor, but can be any person nominated by the party. “It is different from rural district councils where the person has to be one of the elected councillors.” Another lawyer, Mr Terrence Hussein, said the election of the mayor must be done at the first sitting of council following a general election. “The person who can be appointed can be a councillor or any other person,” he said. Mr Hussein said according to the provisions of section 103 (1) of the Urban Councils Act, a deputy mayor is the one who should be elected from councillors. Mr Chris Mhike of Atherstone and Cook said the election of mayors and chairpersons of local authorities in Zimbabwe proceeds in terms of the Urban Councils Act, and the Rural District Councils Act, both of them as read with the new Constitution “In terms of these statutes, there can be two types of local government heads: non-executive mayors and chairpersons, and executive mayors and chairpersons. “In the case of executive mayors and chairpersons, and in terms of Section 274 of the Constitution, an Act of Parliament may confer executive powers on the mayor or chairperson of an urban local authority. But any executive mayor or executive chairperson must be elected directly by registered voters in the area for which the local authority has been established,” he said. Mr Mhike said in the case of a non-executive mayor and non-executive chairperson, the mayor shall be the person preferred or elected by councillors of a subject local authority at the first sitting of the council following a general election. He said in respect of non-executive mayors and chairpersons, there was no specific provision in the statutes on the need for the elected person to be one of the elected councillors. “The requirement for the mayor or chairperson of a local authority to be an elected official relates only to executive office,” he said. Harare lawyer and outgoing Deputy Justice and Legal Affairs Minister Mr Obert Gutu has been chosen by the MDC-T to become the new mayor of Harare for the next five years. He will be deputised by Kambuzuma councillor-elect Thomas Muzuva, who was nominated for the post of deputy mayor by the MDC-T. The new constitution abolished the office of provincial governors, who were presidential appointments, and thus part of the national Government, although they sat with an advisory council made up of the chairmen of the urban and rural councils in their provinces. In their place as the ‘face’ of a province would come the chairmen of the provincial and metropolitan councils, who would be elected and whose councils would be far more high-powered. Harare and Bulawayo would have a provincial structure, although this would be different in several ways from the structure of the eight non-metropolitan provinces. The chairman of a provincial council is elected by the full council. But the party that obtained the most National Assembly seats in that province nominates at least two “qualified” candidates, from which the full council chooses one. Should two parties tie for the same top number of seats, then the one with the most votes provide the candidates. Zanu-PF would thus be the nominating party for the first chairman of all eight provincial councils. The two metropolitan councils have a slightly different make-up. All members of the National Assembly from that province, plus the six women members, plus the six senators are members of the metropolitan council. They are joined by the mayor and deputy mayor, or the chairman and deputy chairman, of any local authority within that province. There are no extra councillors and obviously no senator chiefs in such councils. The chairpersons of the Bulawayo or Harare Metropolitan Councils would become mayors of the two cities respectively, with the chairperson of the next largest council in Harare province, presumably at the moment the mayor of Chitungwiza, as the deputy chairperson. For both Bulawayo and Harare the MDC-T has a majority of councillors and thus that party would presumably elect the mayor, who does not have to be a city councillor, and who would then by virtue of office be the chairman of the metropolitan council. The smallest of the new provincial councils would be the Bulawayo Metropolitan Council, with just 26 members, while the largest appears to be the Midlands Provincial Council with more than 62 members. Besides being a big province, Midlands has a large number of cities and towns. More than 500 people would sit on the 10 councils. - Herald
Posted on: Wed, 28 Aug 2013 12:05:35 +0000