8 Electoral system and processes the election – still appoints members of ZEC. Another challenge related to the involvement of the three political parties in Parliament, which effectively politicised the appointment process and subsequent composition of ZEC. The ZEC was initially headed by Justice Mutambanengwe and comprised a total of nine commissioners. The commissioners were appointed by the President from a list of not less than 12 nominees submitted by the Committee on Standing Rules and Orders. After the resignation of the first chairperson, there was leadership gap at ZEC, although the deputy chairperson, Joyce Laetitia Kazembe assumed the chair in an acting capacity. The Constitution requires the Chairperson to be a person who qualifies to be a judge, which Kazembe is not. Several key processes were therefore presided over by a person not qualified to be the Chairperson and head the Commission and its decision-making processes. This leadership gap was subsequently challenged in the case of National Constitutional Assembly & Anor v The President of the Republic of Zimbabwe & Anor.19 Before the matter could be heard, however, the President rushed to appoint a qualified substantive Chairperson, Justice Rita Makarau, in order to avoid an adverse decision being made through the courts a few days before the referendum was held. Whilst new commissioners were appointed, the ZEC secretariat remains unreformed. 20 In the past, concerns have been raised by various stakeholders that some of the staff members were from the military and intelligence services.21 In addition, they comprised the same personnel who had overseen disputed elections in the past. As such, the composition of the secretariat in the absence of meaningful reforms does not satisfy the required impartiality of national institutions prescribed in the SADC Principles22 and neither does it inspire public confidence. The Electoral Act as amended does not elaborate on the qualifications of the Chief Elections Officer despite the sweeping powers that he has with managing affairs, supervising and controlling activities relating to a national process.23 The Chief Elections Officer is also the accounting officer. This position is untenable as there are no checks and balances at the senior management level to ensure that funds are not misappropriated or misallocated. Finance and programming have to be separate to ensure sound management of ZEC and instill confidence in stakeholders. In any event crowding one person with too many functions will result in pressure of implementation, as they will be inundated with work and supervision responsibilities. The Electoral Act categorically states that Chairpersons of the public service, health service board or any other responsible authorities of any statutory body or council shall second such persons in the employment of the State to be staff members of ZEC during elections.24 This pool of persons who can be seconded to ZEC continues to be the 19 20 21 22 23 24 Constitutional Court of Zimbabwe unreported case SC 54/13. M Matenga “ZEC secretariat must be disbanded: ACT” Newsday (17 January 2013) p 5. See ZLHR 2008 Pre-election report. See Principle 7.3 of the SADC Principles. Section 9(2)(b&c) of the Electoral Act. Section 10(1) of the Electoral Act.