STATUTES REQUIRING CONSTITUTIONAL ALIGNMENT __________________________________________________________________________________ • to provide for members of the Defence Forces Service Commission to serve five-year terms as provided in section 320 of the Constitution. • to increase the powers of the Defence Forces Service Commission to investigate the conduct of members of the Defence Forces in order to ensure compliance with section 208; • to comply with the requirement in section 218(2) of the Constitution that the Defence Forces Service Commission should make service regulations; under section 113 of the Act it is the Minister who does so. • to establish an independent complaints mechanism for dealing with complaints from the public about misconduct on the part of members of the Defence Forces. This is mandated by section 210 of the Constitution. • to prohibit the deployment/secondment of army personnel in civilian institutions except in times of national emergency (section 208 of the Constitution). 21. District Development Fund Act [Chapter 29:06] Section 13 of the Act empowers the Secretary for Local Government to impose a surcharge on anyone responsible for loss of the DDF’s funds, and section 16 allows the Secretary to make orders for the repayment of money to compensate the DDF for loss or damage to its property. Appeals against surcharges and orders lie to the responsible Minister, not to a court. The amount of any surcharge or order is a debt due to the Fund and can be recovered by court action. Appeals against surcharges and orders should lie to a court, not the Minister. 22. Education Act [Chapter 25:04] The Act should be amended: • to reduce the State’s now illegal power to control non-government schools (section 75(2) & (3) of the Constitution); • to include a provision that the State must ensure the paramountcy of the best interests of children in education (section 81(2) of the Constitution); • to confer on adults who are citizens or permanent residents a right to adult basic education as provided in section 75(1) of the Constitution; • to set out a framework for the progressive realisation of “further education” for children and adults, as provided for in section 75(1)(b) of the Constitution; • to make it clear that no child can be excluded from a government school for non-payment of fees if it would deny the child the right to a basic State-funded education guaranteed by section 75(1)(a) of the Constitution; • to encourage the use of all the official languages in the provision of education, in accordance with section 6 of the Constitution. 23. Electoral Act [Chapter 2:13]* The Act should be replaced entirely because it has been amended so often that it is difficult to find out what its provisions actually are. Many of its provisions, to the extent that they can be ascertained, contain errors and anomalies. The new Act should be prepared by or under the supervision of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission [ZEC] after all interested parties have been consulted. The new Act, or amendments to the existing Act, should deal with the following issues: 8