16
In Their Capacity as Human Rights Defenders: Women
account of a discrepancy between the surname on her birth certificate and that on her national
identity card. She explained that she had changed her surname when she got married and
was then told to bring a copy of her marriage certificate, despite this not being a requirement
in terms of the Electoral Act. Upon furnishing a copy of the marriage certificate, she was
advised that she was out of time, and therefore her nomination papers had been rejected. This
conferred an unfair advantage on the male contenders for political office who had not been
asked to produce the same documentation. The appeal against the unlawful and
discriminatory conduct of ZEC officials in refusing to accept the nomination papers was
granted by the Electoral Court that declared that Govo was the duly nominated candidate for
the concerned ward in Chikomba.
Freedom of expression:- The case of Majome v Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings & 3 Ors25 is a
constitutional challenge to the provisions of the Broadcasting Services Act, specifically, the
sections requiring all members of the public with receivers to be levied a licence fee by the
Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC). This case sought to challenge the requirement to
pay for a licence while programming and content was politically partisan and not in the
public interest, as should be the case with a public broadcaster. The challenge also seeks to
assert participation rights more broadly. Jessie Majome challenged the law based on the
patently partisan programming of the ZBC which is not in line with constitutional provisions
protecting equality before the law (section 56), freedom of association and assembly (section
58), freedom of conscience (section 60) and freedom of expression and freedom of the media
(section 61). She also sought to assert her political rights under section 67 of the Constitution.
The matter was finally argued on 12 November 2014 before the full bench of the
Constitutional Court. Judgment was reserved after hearing from all legal representatives.
Right to identity: As a registered voter who wanted to participate in the 2013 elections by
casting her vote, Primrose Matambanadzo discovered that her surname had been arbitrarily
changed to that of her husband on the voters’ roll. Although she had registered her name as
Matambanadzo and had voted using this name since 2005, it had been changed to her
husband’s name upon her marriage, without her request, knowledge or consent. She
discovered this upon inspecting the voters’ roll on 20 June 2013 before the July 2013 national
elections. Upon inquiry, she was advised that it was not certain that she would be able to cast
her vote due to this disparity. After filing a court application in the High Court and a number
of meetings between lawyers and the Registrar-General’s Office Primrose’s name was
changed back to the original surname on the voters’ roll.26
Right to equality: In the case of Dongo v Registrar-General & Anor27 that was supported by the
Zimbabwe Women Lawyers’ Association, Margaret Dongo, a married woman and the mother
of a minor child Kudakwashe Norman, sought a court order against the Registrar-General’s
conduct described below. In January 2006, when Kudakwashe Dongo was still a minor,
Margaret, like so many other women in Zimbabwe, approached the Office of the RegistrarGeneral to apply for a passport for her son. She was turned away on the grounds that as the
mother of a marital minor child, she could not sign the passport application form authorising
25
Constitutional Court unreported case 67/13.
26 ZLHR issued a letter of demand and drafted a court application that was eventually not finalised as the matter
was resolved without the need to go to court.
27
Supreme Court unreported case 6/2010.
Select target paragraph3
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