By Nyasha Dube
As Zimbabwe gears up for the 2023 elections which are set for the 23rd of August, there has been several court cases challenging legal processes since nomination court sat on 21 June 2023, a development which could further push women out of the political playing field.
The numbers are already worrying as the country has witnessed a significant drop in female candidates this year, compared to the previous election.
In 2018, 4 women contested in the presidential election, and this year only one woman, Elisabeth Valerio, made it to the ballot after challenging a court ruling which had nullified her candidacy.
Valerio of the United Zimbabwe Alliance had her nomination turned down after her nomination fee payment in RTGS reflected in Zimbabwe Electoral Commission’s account after the due time. She challenged the case and emerged as the only contesting female candidate out of the 11 presidential hopefuls.
The race could have had two women contesting if Linda Masarira of the Labour Econimists and African Democrats party had won her court case as well.
Unfortunately Masarira could not make it through despite efforts to file her nomination papers. She approached the high court arguing that the $20 000 presidential nomination fee was too steep for women, but lost the case.
Zimbabwe has a history of female politicians and women rights defenders having to fight legal battles. According to Women’s Academy for Leadership and Political Excellence (WALPE), women in political leadership have often been dragged before the courts more than any other, an indication of how lawfare can be used a tool to silence women.
“We have the arrests of Joana Mamombe, Cecelia Chimbiri, Netsai Marova, Fadzai Mahere, Tsitsi Dangarembwa and Julie Barnes- all of whom are women politicians and human rights defenders who spoke against government and had the law used against them. This could further push women away from entering politics for fear of retribution by law just because of their political affiliation or views. And now with the Patriotic Act, women leaders and aspiring women leaders will have to censor what they say as it may be misconstrued for being “unpatriotic”,” said WALPE executive director Sitabile Dewa.
Dewa however states that the 2023 elections related court cases have been gender sensitive and gender inclusive in terms of rulings.
“The legal system has been fair in as far as executing its duties with regard to being gender inclusive and sensitive because it listened to all the cases brought before it by women candidates and made decisions based on findings before them,” Dewa said.
The latest trending case this week has been that of the 12 opposition parliamentary candidates, including women, who were at the bleak of being pushed out of the race, had the high court ruled against them.
Their nomination had been nullified on the basis that they did not file on time, fortunately their candidacy was reinstated.
This case comes at a time when only 11%, which is 70 women out of 637 candidates, are vying for national seats, a drop from 14,4% in 2018. The same goes for local authority where only 14% (665 out of
Statistics on 2023 female parliamentary and municipal candidates
3940) of women are contesting as councilors. This court case could have led to a further decline in the numberof women candidates.
These court cases could directly or indirectly shrink women’s political participation further than it already is, and here’s how:
According to a United Nations mission in South Sudan report, pre, during and post conflict legal regimes may reinforce marginalization of women as the rule of law and human/women rights often break down during conflicts.
Women already have little confidence when it comes to electoral participation as they face a lot of structural and institutional barriers. The unending court cases can further disadvantage them, and seeing otherwomen losing these cases can also intimidate aspiring female political leaders.
Whilst the constitution is the first legally binding framework which affords women equal rights, it often fails to align with electoral laws and this gap leaves women vulnerable to discrimination.
Women can also fall short when it comes to covering legal fees as most of them already lack access and control to finances and resources.
Resources aside, court cases also take time to resolve and that will take away from women’s time to campaign for the positions they aspire to take up while waiting for finalisation of their cases. Women also lose faith in the judicial system if it appears to favour one political party over another, in terms of cases being brought before the courts and the outcomes thereafter. In order to democratise the judiciary during times of elections, the courts must act in an impartial and apolitical manner with regard to political cases as per their Constitutional mandate.
WALPE executive director Sitabile Dewa
Women can also struggle to access justice due to limited availability of legal mechanisms and support services. Poor representation in courts, both as plaintiff and respondents can be another contributing factor to the silencing of women’s voices in politics.
Spotlighting these issues can help lobby responsible stakeholders to push for progressive electoral reforms as well as eliminate unnecessary irregularities.
Dewa from WALPE also raises the need for female leaders to be capacitated on legal procedures.
“In as far as women knowing the legal processes involved, they are to some extent knowledgeable because for one to get as far as the nomination court processes, they have some background knowledge into what is required. Capacitation of aspiring women leaders is however still required as the process is continuously changing with the amendments to the law and statutory instruments related to elections,” she says.