1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) is one of the five (5) Chapter 12 Independent Commissions established in terms of Section 232 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe. The objectives of Independent Commissions are to support and entrench human rights and democracy, protecting the sovereignty of the people, as well as securing the observance of democratic values and principles by the State and all institutions and agencies of Government, inter alia. Section 243 (1) (c) accords ZHRC the responsibility to monitor, assess and ensure observance of human rights and freedoms. This function applies to the assessment, monitoring and observance of human rights during elections in terms of the Constitution.5 In addition, the Electoral Act [Chapter 2:13] and the Electoral Code of Conduct for Political Parties and Candidates, section 14 (d) also mandates the ZHRC and other Constitutional Commissions to assist in the reporting, documentation and referral of human rights violations in the electoral process.
Furthermore, ZHRC developed a Human Rights Elections Strategy (2022 – 2025) that has, as one of its goals, “Strengthening the observance of human rights and compliance with human rights by duty bearers so as to contribute to a political environment that is conducive to peaceful, free, fair and credible elections”. This involves monitoring and assessing the human rights situation, raising awareness on electoral rights and receiving and processing complaints throughout the electoral cycle.
In light of the above, the ZHRC monitored the pre-election period from May 2023 up to 22nd August 2023. It observed the election on the 23rd and 24th of August and thereafter monitored the post-election period. These processes were carried out to assess the conduciveness of the environment to conduct a free, fair, transparent and credible election.