Judgment No. CCZ 05/18 10 Const. Application No. 32/17 The view that I take is that the requirement for the Minister’s approval of the regulations does not give the Minister the power to govern or regulate the functions of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, nor does it diminish the power and independence of ZEC to craft regulations that accord with its mandate both in terms of its enabling Act or the Constitution. The purpose of the approval to be sought from the Minister is for him to exercise an Administrative function to ensure that the regulations comply with the law. As correctly stated by the first respondent, he is responsible for reporting to Parliament in terms of s 323 of the Constitution which provides: “Every Commission must submit to Parliament, through the responsible Minister, an annual report describing fully its operations and activities, the report being submitted not later than the end of March in the year following the year to which the report relates. (2) An Act of Parliament may require a Commission to submit further reports in addition to the annual report specified in subsection (1), and may prescribe the way in which such reports are to be submitted.” Clearly, in terms of this provision, it is incumbent upon ZEC to submit a report concerning its operations to Parliament through the first respondent. This mode of operation enables the first respondent to perform his functions in terms of s 323 of the Constitution. Regulations constitute subsidiary legislation and the responsible Minister is obliged to check their compliance with the law in general, not just the Electoral Act, before they are promulgated. In short, any regulation presented before Parliament must be consistent with the laws of the country, including the common law. It leaps to the mind that ZEC does not have the obligation to ensure that this is the position. It is not after all, a Law making body. It is only tasked to make regulations for the better performance of its mandate for the conduct of elections.